Wisdom and Youth

So here we have it. A worthy ride worth posting in regards to some of the fun had at the Tuesday morning ride. Again let me reiterate the purpose for this blog. I am tired of the doping postings from drug offenses in the Pro Peloton. I noticed a Boonin incident recently and I also noticed something from our friend Tyler Hamilton that made me more convicted about talking some about the racing the real boys (us) are doing. It also makes me more of a fan of the MTB scene. Apparently the overseas pros and the local MTB pros have a real internal commitment to stay clean and it shows as not many of those goof balls are getting busted. Good for them. That being said here is what I know.

Today was a crisp yet warm morning and a day where you have to get on the bike if you have the means. No wind and not a cloud in the sky. Sooo. We started out the ride and everything was piano for the first part of the first lap. The pace had been high but smooth. We hit loving and Judge Roy Dobi pulls up next to me and ask my how I am feeling. "Well" I said. I did not realize that was code for lets pin it and see if we can puke and poo ourselves in one incident. So off he goes but before he could hit the front Ian was off the front throwing 7 different kinds of smoke at us. Anyhow he did not realize we are down to two hills for safety and when you are leading it is hard to know who to follow. The rest of us were heading up westshore (?) and all we saw in front of us was JRD. Anyhow we cranked it a bit up the third hill and eventually brought JRD back. I was wondering if we would see Ian again or if we had lost him. Coming off Mock-ya-ing-ya-bird I looked over my shoulder and saw Ian had jumped back in and probably did not cut the course as there really is no where to cut. Anyhow we hit the bathhouse climb and the pace was a little slow so deciding it was time for some sporting fun I pegged it and got a small gap. I kept the hammer down for a bit and tried to see if someone would come across which would have been my only hope. No one did!!!!! So I died a little bit and suffered some too. I think Katy pulled me back and Thomas the Train quickly chastised me for being caught by a girl. Triple T. I was thinking to myself, How does it feel to have NOT been off the front and had to have been escorted to the front by a chick (although she is a really fast and nice one at that)!!!! So off to Loving again and Ian took off again with both guns pulled and firing. So I was thinking to myself maybe we let him drift up the road a bit and then pull him back, which would have been fine if we had not been caught by traffic coming off of Loving. Now with new urgency we took off after Ian and we started working like dogs to pull him back. At one point I took a dig to pull him back and that was it for me. Shortly after Ian was pulled back and things came down to a sprint so someone got a good win and that was it.

RickM