Short Track #5

I am, I am superman....

That's both for the R.E.M. lyrics ("...and I can do anything") and the - well, let me not get ahead of my bars (yet).

Short track #5, race #4 for me. Good news: I no longer spend racedays feeling jittery all the live-long day; a welcome upgrade.

So - Monday. In to the office early, albeit moving a bit slowly from a busy couple of days. (full workweek, at OMSI/on the sub Friday evening until 11. Saturday, ride with Commissioner Fish et al. Sunday, Parkways!)

Hop the 4:30 MAX train, arrive at the track feeling good and excited about playing in the dirt, with sufficient time to socialize and do a test lap.

Hrm. Course is ... longer-feeling, and somehow infinitely twisty. Lots of tight turns, a couple of narrow spots - but mostly feeling pretty technical. No way I'm doing this one quickly...

I run into Beth, we talk course and energy levels (she may/not race... but she'll race singlespeed if she does!). Ben rolls in just in time for his race, having just hung on to the wheel of a mtb'er holding the wheel of a roadie, aka keeping 20mph most of the way out from Reed. (Whew!)

Rob, Ed, and Ben all start - I cheer them on and chatter with Margaux, Brad/Kim/Celeste in the stands. Hear the last lap bell and manage to get in one more "GO ___!" (Ben/Ed/Rob) before scurrying off to the start line to meet up with the ss ladies crew. We chatted at the start line, Sarah/Beth/I had some bike-love for our steel bikes with no shocks.

If there was an intro this week, I missed it. The ss men were off!

The Cat 2 men were off!

... and after letting the lady behind me take my start-line spot ("grumble, how am I ever going to get through grumble" "Uh, here, let me switch you, I'm not that fast..." - I don't dig grumpy passive-aggressive types)

... we were off!

The fast ladies were off - down the track, over the river and through the woods, and far away from me - but a couple of the singlespeed ladies were within reach.

Up, down, turn, up - negotiate the ex-tabletop (now mud and chunky) - with my eyes on those known wheels.

Turn up down turn up up down turn ... this course was good and tricky - negotiate the technical bits and then sprint on the flats/straights/nicer turns.

Up over a hill, down a slope, sharp left through this sandy...

*bam*

...and that was dirt, and that was me, flat on it, on top of my bike.

("You okay?" "Oh yeah....")

Up! Go! (tick tick...)

Wait... handlebars and front wheel no longer matching. Stop, push/pull, adjust. (tick tick tick... there goes Beth...)

Get on, still not right. Off the bike, re-adjust bars. (tick tick tick tick....)

GO!

...and my familiar wheels, known jerseys/shirts, were nowhere in sight.

I sped up and down the hills, flew around corners best-I-could, and realized while my bike ride was going well, my race was pretty much over.

So I continued busting up/down hills, taking turns as fast as was reasonable, and cheered on other ladies - Cat 2's with mechanical issues or just out of gas - women in my category who were far ahead of me on the course (I could see them as the course wound in on itself). Beth and I met up for the mogul section...

...but mostly, it was pretty lonely. Near the back of everyone, with the super-speedy silent singlespeed men blowing by (Hey bike ninjas! say something before you pass!). No one to chase, feeling more like I'm doing an off-road ITT than anything else.

But, given last week's epiphany - of forgetting this is a competition and just going and riding bikes - it was a great ride.

I made four laps before the bell, finished 6/7, and am considering changing my middle name to "penultimate."

Met up with the kickass cheering section post-race, stopped by the Peanut Butter Table to snap some shots of some of the singlespeed women's field. Ben/I continued our reign as the king/queen of peanutbutter, then pedaled to Zach's Shack to grab hot dogs and cold beers.

Midnight bedtime as per usual - Tuesday morning comes early and a bit creaky, and this week with bonus bruises. (Right knee - nice shade of purple. Left thigh - perfect imprint of my handlebar grip, no joke.)

Next week, we'll be backpacking in N. California - whoohoo! - so no race. But, back for the last of the STXC series on 8/2 - and then looking forward to cross, although I have some reservations about drive-to-ride. Maybe slip in a road PIR inbetween, just to show up on my "vintage" bike (bar-end shifters, old steel Allez) and try to hang with the fancy fast ladies in matching spandex riding a paycheck's worth of crabon-fibre...