Three Day Bender

Well, shooooot. Coming up this Thursday morning, I take off on a 7-day trip of sedentary meetings and travel in the coach cabin in the name of takin'-what-they're-givin'-cause-I'm-workin'-for-a-livin'. You never realize just how good you've got it until work takes you away for a bit. So in an effort to make the most of Monday - Wednesday, I'm going on a three-day bender.

did someone say my name?

Not that Bender, technically. Although he will most certainly be involved. I'm talking about a riding bender - three days stuffed with as much rally as possible. And time with my beautiful wife.

conveniently, the two are not mutually exclusive.

In the great history of the world, if you were to pick a single day NOT to have raced at Camp Hilbert, you might have picked today. And you would have made a good call. 2+ inches of rain, high winds, biting cold, and general awfulness. Sometimes, the first one is the right one to sit out.
So, technically, the "first one" is by default now The Shootout somewhere down Danville way, and then on deck and in the hole we have the local goods - Ohill followed by Blue Ridge School. Rad.

Interestingly, I went to the Virginia Off Road Series website to verify that schedule, and it turns out that, despite the fact that not a single pedal stroke has been raced yet, I'm winning the 2011 XCAT by 25 points. That's right - due to the 50 trailwork points that I've racked up building the new loop at Preddy Creek - I've established a massive lead. Turns out I can really get to the front when the race consists of piddling around in the dirt like an anteater.

Sadly, when the pedaling actually commences, staying at the front might require that I do some training and cut some things out of my diet. For example:




Let's move on. I wanted to recap the brownie crit on Friday eve. Not the whole brownie crit, mind you - only the part where Erico Moortani passed SS Ramsey on the inside of a rocky turn, and SSRamsey pushed him over and stepped on his testicles. That's right, from the perpetrator's mouth:
"He was gaining on me on the climb, made a clean pass, and next thing we knew we bumped handlebars and tangled up into each other...Eric's fine and after that 2-minute delay he was off and riding. I didn't contest it after that because it would be kinda bad form to chase someone whom I had just stepped on his nuts."

That's a good lesson in racing etiquette for all of us, I feel. Cycling can be such a mysterious sport when it comes to right and wrong. But yeah, stepping on a fella's fella' stuff and then dropping him on the next climb would qualify as bad form.
Anyway, all is well that ends well, and I do think this represents what is just and perfect about free racing on a Friday. More of that to come. But next time you think about snaking Scotty on the inside, consider that image and tuck yourself back in.

Keep on crashing in the free world.