Mt. Tabor Series #4 6/28/6
I just had my spirits boosted enough by track tonight to type about road last night… so here it is:
Last night sucked. I almost didn’t race because I just had a bad feeling and didn’t feel like shelling out the $15 to jump into a race about which I had a bad feeling. (BTW: has anybody else ever realized what a rip this race is? If you get third in the Pro/1/2’s, not that I could, you don’t even break even. If you win the series, as in top-step-on-the-podium-for-all-to-see-that-everyone-in-Portland-is-weak-compared-to-you, you get a ribbon. Gee, thanks! Is this donation to RCB tax deductible?)
So, I get in there, sit in for 5 laps and then puncture my brand new Schwalbe tubie: out $75 and down a lap. I borrow a wheel from the very generous Mike Hilbrandt, and get back in just to try and help Molly any way I can.
What that came down to was trying to lead her out for the sprint for 3rd (a strong break was long gone). Then, on the bell lap, I drill it at the top of the hill to pull ‘er around the reservoir, and look to see she’s not on my wheel. Turns out I was giving her the lead out that I had wanted from her a week prior, and what she wanted out of me was the lead out that she had given me then. We’re two different sprinters. I’m learning… Anyways, the effort was completely futile.
And then I go to return the wheel to the very generous Mike Hilbrandt, and the mf’s flat: a Vittoria EVO CX tubie. Down another $80, and for nothing at all. Goddamn this is an expensive sport! Okay, okay, let’s see the positive… there’s got to be a positive side to all this…
Oh yeah, here you go: in my time alone as I got back into the race on a new wheel, I won an unofficial prime at the crest of the hill, where a renegade group of pink crazies, who will remain anonymous, were providing prizes out of their own stash of goodies. This was not the type of prime you go and collect later--they handed it up to me as I went by: the December 1986 Playboy. Well worn, too. I had to carry it around, but at least I had some reading material while waiting for Molly’s group to catch me.
Last night sucked. I almost didn’t race because I just had a bad feeling and didn’t feel like shelling out the $15 to jump into a race about which I had a bad feeling. (BTW: has anybody else ever realized what a rip this race is? If you get third in the Pro/1/2’s, not that I could, you don’t even break even. If you win the series, as in top-step-on-the-podium-for-all-to-see-that-everyone-in-Portland-is-weak-compared-to-you, you get a ribbon. Gee, thanks! Is this donation to RCB tax deductible?)
So, I get in there, sit in for 5 laps and then puncture my brand new Schwalbe tubie: out $75 and down a lap. I borrow a wheel from the very generous Mike Hilbrandt, and get back in just to try and help Molly any way I can.
What that came down to was trying to lead her out for the sprint for 3rd (a strong break was long gone). Then, on the bell lap, I drill it at the top of the hill to pull ‘er around the reservoir, and look to see she’s not on my wheel. Turns out I was giving her the lead out that I had wanted from her a week prior, and what she wanted out of me was the lead out that she had given me then. We’re two different sprinters. I’m learning… Anyways, the effort was completely futile.
And then I go to return the wheel to the very generous Mike Hilbrandt, and the mf’s flat: a Vittoria EVO CX tubie. Down another $80, and for nothing at all. Goddamn this is an expensive sport! Okay, okay, let’s see the positive… there’s got to be a positive side to all this…
Oh yeah, here you go: in my time alone as I got back into the race on a new wheel, I won an unofficial prime at the crest of the hill, where a renegade group of pink crazies, who will remain anonymous, were providing prizes out of their own stash of goodies. This was not the type of prime you go and collect later--they handed it up to me as I went by: the December 1986 Playboy. Well worn, too. I had to carry it around, but at least I had some reading material while waiting for Molly’s group to catch me.
posted by MCB at 10:37 PM
1 Comments:
Ouch out a hundred and seventy for Tabor. Yeah that hurts. Not that XC racing is any cheaper. I'm replacing chains, tyres and derailures all the time.
Who was on the cover in 1986?
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