Whoopped!

I'm not making excuses, not at all, but the First Annual Southern Maryland Crit was not my event. After a recovery week last week, coming back from fighting a pesky cold, things were looking good on Thursday, that was until I saw "The Wagon"take a nasty spill. Friday, my friend Chance arrived from Atlanta for a business trip which included some riding. Chance is a product developer for Blue and I have known him and his better half for years. Since it had rained most of the morning on Friday, the crowd at Hains was minimal.

Saturday Chance met with the company's reps for the area and we did a leg of the MS150 in Loudon County. Very scenic loop, with some great views, and spectacular weather. As per custom, the harrassing was full on through the 60 or so miles covered, which translated into a great time on the bike.

This morning right as we were arriving in LaPlata the rain came, and it was on and off all darn day. I quickly made note of how the packs were breaking under the influence of pace, wind, wet road conditions and the odd crash, but still, I didn't know what to expect. It was without a doubt the smaller pack so far in any of the races I have taken part, and some familiar faces were present. Right off the bat, I had trouble clipping, and like I said, I'm not making excuses. I caught back on, and worked my way towards the middle of the pack, and it took me longer than I wanted. As soon as I got there, another accleration sent me backwards, so again, I worked my way forward. On the downhill/90 degree turn, another rider bumped into me as we were exciting the turn. The impact moved the computer which started to hit the magent on the wheel, making a very annoying "thung-thung" sound every time the wheel went around.

Now a bit pissed off because of the little things above mentioned, I thought I would give it a stick and try to reattach my sorry self back to the group and by God, I did, with the "thung-thung" blasting in my and everyone's ears. The effort took a bit more than I thought, and the Chicken Teriyaki sandwich I had for lunch almost made an appearance, going the reverse way it went in. And that my friends was it for yours truly. I made a half ass effort for one more lap and graciously waved at the chief ref as he signaled me to exit right at the start finish area.

Chance, who was witnessing the events unfold, wasted no time to start his famous bashing, which did nothing but improve my mood and no soon was he in full bashing mode that Jose rolled in, head down, disgusted at his performance, which only added wood to the fire Chance was feeding. Nothing like good friends around after a tough outting. Both Jose and I sat down, exchanged excuses as to why we rode so poorly, heard Chance bash us some more and watched the finish of the cat4s and gave a few of the guys some shouts to continue the fight. Kylelooked in control and had a good ride. The 1,2,3 was insanely fast, guys dropping left and right, due to the intense pace and constant attacking, it sure was fun to watch but even then, it looked really hard.