Monday, March 24, 2008

a little friday sprints, a little saturday ominium

miss alicia was turning the big 2-8 friday. and cause she is so cool she organized a big sprint race at the port on friday evening. shit, man, alicia has a lot of friends. and all of them ride bikes. and if she has more friends who don't ride bikes, she should run for city council in her district, cause she already has the votes.

knowing what to wear to one of these things always troubles me. you don't want to look like a tool in the spandex all night. but i learned my lesson and don't mess around without my chamois anymore. so, i layered, jeans over shorts. bike shorts are kinda like boxer-briefs meets maxi-pad, ya?

on my way to the port, i thought it was a good time to show-off the over pass challenge. so people don't think i am lying. and new record high -- 191! that was with jean drag.

people drag raced all night. and alicia wanted me at the start line...so i was totally that lame girl at the start who yelled "go," just like the preachers daughter in footloose who through her straw hat in the air. except i wasn't wearing short shorts and didn't have a straw hat to throw in the air... and people were drag racing bikes, not chicken fighting with tractors.

i got to race jay who rides cross, and jenny oh. whoa, some fast ladies. and some fast dudes too. like chicken legs (aka "al") in the picture below. shit, he was quick as anything!

it just goes to show you don't judge a book by its cover. when i first saw him, i thought: skinny boy: your quads are like 53cm, you are done for! then, out of nowhere, he was so fast. round after round, tearing it up. just flyin'! i, of all people, hate to say it, but, quads aren't everything. and speaking of quads, i am rockin' out at 60.25cm (a bit down) as of march 20th.

the sprints were fun to watch, but i have to say, my favorite part of the night was watching morgan and some other dude doing a 200m wheelie race. as in, they popped a wheelie-- and kept the front wheel off the ground and raced for 200m. it was so incredibly remarkable!

next day, headed to track. i got stuck at work late so had a 8 minute warm-up. no problem, first race is always a good warmup-- especially if it is the keirin. just take the moto, let it ramp you up, and take your lap and half flyer to get your legs warmed up, and hope it is enough to get you to the finals. lucky for me it was. then i had to race all the men in the finals. i figured it wasn't a good idea to take first position again, so i took second position. some guy tried to get it, but, i made my elbow stance real wide and he was chivalrous and all that and let the girl have it. THANKS. but that was all the chivalry i got the rest of the day. when moto pulled, guy in front pulled up track, as some other dude came down and had a huge gap. so there i was again, leading out again. leading out this race is funny cause for awhile coming into turn four before the finish you think: "i got it, all you suckers! i am so fast you can't even come around me...i'm totally gonna take it from the front, boo yah!" but just as you think that, a herd of dudes in spandex swarm around. thankfully, i held on for 5th in the heat of 8 people.

next was scratch race, which basically, let's just say i am not fast enough. the whole race is a blur at the moment, but all i recall in the last lap when there was an attack and i was hangin' on, sprinting my brains out, and then the sprint happened and i thought: "WTF?! i thought we already were sprinting. you're going faster?"

miss 'n out was next. this is totally my love/hate race. it makes me very anxious just thinking about it.... each lap it is the notmenotmenotmenotmenotme plea. thankfully, i made it lots and lots of laps. i spent lots of time in wind, maneuvering the long way around turn 3 and 4-- but that is why i didn't get boxed in. i got fourth, and got pinched out when i took the front position, and totally thought i had it at the line, then the rider next to me got real close, and i backed off a tiny bit in the sprint cause i was big sissy and got nervous with people sprinting so close. i need to man up! but, i was pretty happy with this race, cause i certainly wasn't the fourth fastest person, so that means i was at least riding smart. (smart-er...who are we kidding here!)

last was the points race. 15 laps points races suck. too short. three sprints. i knew i didn't have the top end, so had to go early. a lap and a quarter before sprint one, the field was lapping some folks, so i came over the top and attacked to get away and a gap. i thought this was enough to get first in the sprint, but some dude must be wicked fast, bridged up, and passed me at the line, so 2nd there. second sprint, i was a moron going into it, and didn't even try to go for it. third sprint, i knew i needed some points bad bad bad. one dude broke away, i caught up to him with 3 laps to go and hoped we could stay away and i could get some points, but then the pack caught us, and i was so gassed i just hobbled across the finish.

of note, let's talk about how tough amanda seigle is. to the right is a picture of amanda's ass on cyclingnews. that is from the visalia crit last weekend. where she was up front near that crash. i watched that clip of the race on the internet and the whole race looked so fast, and amanda was right there. with all the pros and stuff. if i had money to bet on her this year, i would. but i don't have money, and don't think there is a women's cycling pool in vegas. this weekend at the track, she went in the B race and crap-- that looked so fast and amanda was just maneuvering in and out of the pack and doing awesome. and then the miss 'n out and she was rockin' it hard, and got fourth in that stacked field. it was incredible. then for the points race, it was a combined A/B points race. aw shit, i was nervous for her. and people were dropping like flies, but not amanda. and yeah, 20 laps to go crash. and amanda just rolled into a ball and tumbled down quite gracefully, scraped up and bruised, but still in good humor. then the poor thing had to drive like 2-2.5 hours to sacramento by herself with a bum leg and ice pack rapped to her. point of this paragraph is: amanda seigle is tough and fast and looks hot with blood stains on her.

other fun things on the infield included:
  • kelly b. giving me pshhhhyah cause i wasn't 30 and can't be on her pursuit team for masters nats in san jose. she should be happy by that cause: a) i am slow, b) i don't have a cool helmet, c) i never used those aero bar thingies, d) while i like to pretend 36-spokes are like a disc wheel, i don't think that is true.
  • glen giving me a pop tart rapper that says: "wanna arm wrestle?" and peter retracting his comments about my crappy back.
  • and most importantly, the return of my sweet tan lines-- including my all-favorite glove tan line on the palm, which i like to refer to as: mark of the beast.
  • and-- lots of women!! amanda, kelly b, illeana, jenny oh, ali, this new girl ashley from roaring mouse, another woman from roaring mouse whose name i missed, and moi. that is eight! whoooo!
and that was the lovely day at the track saturday!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually eight gals. Two Mice.

beth bikes! said...

oops, thanks!

Unknown said...

Other mouse was probably Cathy Morgan. Be nice, she's a friend.

norcalcyclingnews.com said...

"and most importantly, the return of my sweet tan lines-- including my all-favorite glove tan line on the palm, which i like to refer to as: mark of the beast."


i can't stand how hot that is

chatterbox said...

Ooooh! Sorry I missed it. Sounds totally fun. I had some nasty TT work to do on Sat, so I missed out. Hopefully I'll be there next time.

place_holder said...

I see Hello Kitty.

Itinerant Rick said...

I was bummed; too many things going on and I had to play the team thing. I know, I know. If I was still with TUA then there would not have been a problem.

BTW, I did my first overpass challenge on Sunday. 179 is the number. Now to work up to your 191 or above.