First of all, a well deserved thank you to Michael aka Crazy and everyone at TriPower for hosting the VA State Championships at Mt Trashmore. Helluva job. It's a great course and very spectator friendly from atop the "mount".
My race was not what I had hoped for coming off of my previous 3 events. I can tell how my race will be within the first minute of starting. If I'm on top of the pedals putting power into the bulldogs and in the top 2 or 3 spots, then I should do well. Yesterday, I lined up on the front row next Kevin, Bill G, and Ed D (the New England Patriots of Masters racing), right where I should be to watch these fast men. At the word go, I stood on the pedals and by the first turn, 200 meters into the race I was hanging on in sixth place. I knew right away the legs weren't working. Through the first lap I clung to the back end of the lead group and lost my grip on the second lap. Bill G and I traded pulls for a bunch of laps, I didn't want to lose his wheel.
Crazy was on the mic, doing his thing with the race commentary at the top of the run up. With about 5 laps to go, I started feeling like I had some power in the legs so I pushed the pace and Bill yelled some encouragement but the lead trio was long gone. I ended up in fourth place, out of the money. that's racing. I had a lot of fun riding and racing with the 757 crowd as always.
I spun around after my race and gave a Patrick M a few pointers on the course layout before his Junior race. He lined up with 2 others, one of which was Mark E of TriPower. Mark got a gap on the first lap but Patrick battled back to Mark's wheel. Patrick threw a few attacks and created a few gaps but never found one that stuck. With about 3 laps to go, Patrick had problem with his chain and Mark kept going, and the selection had been made. Patrick did a great job riding with Mark and ended taking second behind him.
Marco was officiating at the second pit and took enjoyment in heckling me, such as "suck it up buttercup" and the like. He even had Holly calling me buttercup. funny guy. It's all good.
I wasn't sure what happened to Kevin after the second lap of my race as I didn't see him ahead of me. I finally caught sight of someone in a TriPower skinsuit piloting a go-fast machine. Here's the dawg himself, showing everyone how's done. He traded turns on Sally's pink go fast machine with Rob D since both of them were out with mechanicals. That's core.
After the race I met Jimmy M, and he said he had something for me. He gave me a bottle of his
Speedy's #44 Hot Sauce and some
2Drunk2Shift stickers. The stickers will go on my Queen City Brewing growler, and the hot sauce was excellent on my black beans and rice. Thanks Jimmy.
