During our weekly Friday night tearing up of fine Mexican cuisine, Sheri was talking me through keeping my season from spiraling out of control. She told me when we got home I was to take a long shower, shave the legs, and visualize jumping into the singletrack in front of Jerry. I was pretty sure I was going to need more than just visualization to pull that off, but I tried it anyway. At this point I'll try anything to get my head screwed on straight again.We arrived at Suamico yesterday just in time to set up in the rain. The beer hour came around quick with no hope of a pre-ride. I think I had six beers total before the night was out and slept like a..... half drunk bike racer I guess.
Warming up with an ipod full of Slayer should be outlawed by the UCI. Slayer inspires an unmatched sense of urgency, and it set me right for a good race. Just a mile or two into the first lap it looked to me like Jerry was under geared, so I figured I would use the 36x16 to my advantage and try to put a bunch of people between us on a long slightly downhill section. That worked for a while but I wondered how soon it would be until I would see him again. I worked with Dave Bell (okay he did most of the work) for the majority of this lap and on and off for the rest of the race. Jerry showed up before the 1st lap finished up and we managed to stay together until I could yo yo no longer just before the start of the 3rd. We had a group of gearies with us that kept snapping back and forth like an accordion. The little rain shower we had during that second lap was killer, and only added to the grin factor for me. After the elastic snapped I sat in no man's land for much of that third lap, trying to close on that group which I could only catch a glimpse of on long straightaways. Turns out that after I fell off this group, Jerry commenced to nuking what was left of the gearies with his turbo-cadence. I came in for another 4th and another 21st overall. It was the most fun I've had in a bike race by far, and I'm pretty jazzed for the rest of the season now. The Vassago/Manitou combo sang sweet melodies to me for 36 miles. I could not be more happy with this setup. Thanks to the Chainsmokers injured reserve again for the support, Dave for the pulls and the encouragement, Momma and Rowan for kicking ass, and Slayer for more of the same.
2 comments:
Kerry, very nice race it was a huge challenge chasing you on that gear. It was a blast going back and forth. You are getting better and better every week even if you don't believe it I surely do. You get my respect every race and that is what counts. When guys are taking note at the start line who's there you know you can ride.
Thanks Holmes. Your legs were a blur. I want to be able to do that when I grow up.
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