Friday after work we headed to Tumbleweed (which was as good as usual) and then to the Fray concert. Aqualung was the opener and they were awesome, as were the Fray. It was a great time and it was nice to see them at an intimate setting as I predict next time they come they’ll be playing a much larger venue. It’s almost always fun to go to any event on a Friday night…although sometimes nothing beats a matinee and then coming home and eating Papa Johns and watching America’s Funniest Videos.
Saturday we packed up and headed to Sheboygan. A stop for some Gelato on the way hit the spot. We got there and Jess and I decided to roll a half lap. Sheboygan is famous for this climb called the Equalizer where in the race if you can make it to the top you get $5. I was 0 for 5 (including preride) two years ago. Well this time I hit it and I made it right up. The conditions were perfect. We went back to the parking lot and I prerode 1-1/2 laps with Jerry. It really puts me in my place to see how well some people can ride singletrack. It looks so easy yet is so hard. Anyways I was able to rock the Equalizer on my second preride lap as well taking an entirely different line. It’s easier in preride though as there aren’t as many people walking their bikes in your way. We hung out in the lot for a while after that and headed to our hotel. La Quinta! It was really nice! We ate at Luigis which has the world’s best fried Mac & Cheese! World’s Best! I washed the Mac & Cheese down with Fettuccini Alfredo and ended up being a vegetarian for the day. Football and baseball and called it a night.
Sunday I woke up early and felt really good. Legs felt awesome, lungs felt ok. A breakfast waffle hit the spot! After lots of hanging out and warm up I hit the line. I couldn’t get a front starting position and ended up in the second row. Unfortunately the surge happened right around me and I was 25th place before I knew it. Guh! I couldn’t even see the leaders after about 100 feet. After everyone settled in I found my settled in pace to be higher than everyone around me and started passing left and right. I didn’t make many friends out there and rubbed some tires. I was even asked what the F I was doing and a traditional what the F but that didn’t last long as I scooted by those people. On the backside of the course I was in 4th place and went to pass a group of 4 from an earlier wave. I get in line ahead of them, actually I didn’t really get in line, I tried, I failed, I hit the grass/dirt at 20mph and got ran over by 4 people and it was a 5 racer pile up. Fortunately 4 of the 5 got up right away to race. The 5th got up quick jumped on his bike (with skewed bars) and started riding too. Um that didn’t work too well. That 5th person was me and my rear wheel was shot. Guh! It rubbed on both sides of the frame, the rotor was rubbing in spots and it couldn’t hold a gear. Awful! So that was my race. I got off my bike and waited at the bottom of the equalizer and hit my wheel a bit to try and straighten it and adjusted the shifting. Then I went for the Equalizer and my 5 bucks. And I was over halfway there when my chain locked up. Walked it to the top, got out my spoke wrench and gave the wheel some work and talked to Shiroma who was seriously ill. No such luck. DNF!
Everyone else rocked! Jess had her best race of the season and got some podium! Jen won her overall race again! Jerry had a sweet race! Joel was 2nd overall in sport.
We hung out and watched the rest of the races and then for the raffle (where none of us won…) Then we went home. Stopped at Taco Bell on the way. Jess and I were both sapped and we were just zombies the rest of the night…
This is my church...this is where I heal my hurt...bike racing for all intents and purposes is done for the year. Yeah there is cross, but that is dorky and not that much fun. I feel really bad, I've watched 1-1/2 Badger games (1 in person) and 1 Packer game.
