Fairhill and Schooley Mill

Dear Reader,

Two races for me this weekend, with the simple goal of riding cleanly, not crashing or break anything. Kind of a tall order considering the voodoo curse I have been racing under for the past few weeks...

Fairhill was a fun course, I made the initial split at the end of lap one, an at the end of lap 2 I was in with the group of guys I wanted to be racing. The course was really fun, save for the one long climb which busted my ass every lap. I know it wasn't half the lap, but in my mind I would break down loop into the climb, and the rest of the course. I was happy with my ride, had a couple of chances to pick up a spot or two the last two laps, but couldn't seal the deal and I  rode in solo. I did pit on the last lap, as the rear tire washed out on one of the off cambers and I wigged out a bit. In the end it was fine, but with the luck I have had recently, I took a bike to be safe... Thanks to Blake and Monkey for pitting for me...

monk put in a solid ride Saturday too!

Sunday was the single speed race down at Schooley Mill. Auer and Esmonde were off the front. Four of us were left to battle for the other spots on the podium. With two to go Clark was up in third and almost clear, followed by Dimitri the 17 year old wunderkind, Chris (from Bicycle Outfitters)  and me.  I tried to work with Chris a bit, but he wasn't really having any of it. Anytime I went to the front, he'd charge back around. He must have really hated my lines. After burning a couple of matches unsuccessfully attacking him, I sat in on his wheel.

Final lap, I  was sitting 6th through the barriers, pretty much resigned to sprinting for 5th.  Up a quick roller I looked around Chris and see  Dimitri the wunderkind coming back to us. I punched it around Chris and carried my momentum past Dimitri. I kept the gas on across the off camber section, and as I hit the asphalt with 300 uphill meters to go, I saw Clark. He had no idea we were there. I jumped hard. I was closing in, and with 50 meters or so to go Clark heard us and jumped to sprint. Dimitri had jumped to my wheel, and my sprint was almost over. The three of us came to the line, Clark 3rd, Dimitri the wunderkind, and me in 5th...  I'll debate whether I should have just watched the wunderkind, and wait to sprint at a more reasonable distance or if going for Clark was the right move, but either way I was stoked to (1) not break anything and (2) to  have a rad race.

Weekend was a pretty outstanding one, got to see lots of teammates, and I was stoked to race well both days. The season rolls on...

A few BTW's:
1. New Bond movie is rad.
2. Brett and Steevo are excellent house guests. It was rad having them stay with us this weekend...
3. I have a midterm tomorrow, I need to study now, and stop blogging...

thanks for reading...

respect
fatmarc

pictures from Dennisbike.com, Jen Tillman, and Jen Sears