Is it possible to put it into words?

Gloucester Day 2.

Definitely one of the best days racing a bike. Unequivocally.

It was raining all day. The course was slick and torn up by all the racers before us. The track was slick as hell, muddy and the turns slow for everyone, the straights were the perfect length and felt easy. The run ups were good and I had no trouble with the little used muscles that got strained before.  My back wasn't hurting at all during the race, or at least I didn't notice it.

And if not for a crash when I was latched onto Shawn McCormack's wheel I might have cracked the top 50%, as it was I got damn close.

So Saturday night after coming home I just ate, didn't feel like eating, but forced myself to try and get a pile of calories in. So tired, the sore throat was raging, was still coughing but the nose hadn't started running much so i felt pretty solid about it.

Woke up and there was some nasal junk and I was about as enthusiastic Sunday morning as I was the day before. AKA not at all.  Made coffee (quad espresso), drank that and caught up with the intertubes, fed the dog, pooped, shuffled around, got the stuff out of the fridge to cook breakfast. let it sit on the counter for a long time. Made cup number two.  Decided I should make food. Ate food. By the time I finished the last bite i wasn't any where close to being ready to leave except that the bikes were still in the car, only had to grab the clothes off the drying rack and pack up the stuff and head out.  Managed to get rolling by 7:15am.  Later than planned but earlier than the day before.

The drive up was uneventful and completely devoid of bike headed to mecca.  Got there on the nose of 90 mins travel time.  Snagged nearly the same parking spot (primo) and basically repeated the same damn routine of the day before.  nearly identical.

Except it was raining. And it was more awesome.

And I was palpably more jacked about it.  I was excited. But still pretty chill and low key. Got number, Meg made me show her my license, WTF? Ryan commiserated with my dissapointment at not getting celebrity treatment but man MegB was GOING TO DO HER JOB DAMNIT. No license shown, no number given.

Headed out to check out the course.  Waited FOR EVER for the cat 4 35+ guys to come through over in the belly of poop run off area (no poop this year fortunately). The lines were sketchy and these guys were pretty insanely all over the place.  Traction was going to be important.

But, good lines were there to be had. Essentially you just stay out of the Cat 4 line and you could rip that shit wicked fast.

At one point I thought maybe I'd skip the pre-ride, what's the point? Not sure, did I want to get all muddy?

Again - same thing, got out for one lap before the start of the 45+ race, walked the pit bike down and shouted at the guys going around.  It was still raining.  with about 20 min to go I started final prep, we headed down to the start with 10 min, lined up, I wound up making a last minute choice to head to the left side.  And from the fence it went Keith Kelly, Shawn Motram, Me. Nick was over on the far side in the same row. I think actually starting on the left that day worked well.  The bottle neck wasn't terrible and I had a good line and was able to set up wide for the first right hander, and protected the line a bit through the next things.

Was a good time. Me and Kyle were just jarring away, no stress, we couldn't really gain much ground at that point, two or three wide going as fast as the guy in front of you, no room to move.  I ate a giant branch at one point before the seawall.  We hit the run up and I noticed in the pre-ride the stuff all the way on the left was dry and not soupy like the center mud bath. And it worked, easy footing little mud accumulation on the shoes.

The laps took FOREVER. But in general I felt pretty good, my lines didn't suck too much, I was able to dump watts and hit the big ring in the power sections, I wasn't really losing ground and I was moving up.  Solobreak said I was 49th after the first lap maybe, or second and I passed a pile of people, was moving FORWARD in the race.  I WAS FUCKING PASSING PEOPLE?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!  And I was having fun. And I wasn't blowing up.  WTF?  It was fun!

Coming past the pits, heading up the hill that colin somehow took the dumb line on in his chainstay cam I caught onto the back of Shawn McCormack's wheel. We headed in under the anti-treefarm branch and around and headed to the mudslide crap, and I was feeling good, and then caught a rut just right, or wrong, and the bike jumped out sideways.  I was able to unclip and recover pretty well but the bike still slammed into the rock with the right shifter, wicked hard.  Fuck did I break a SHIMANO shifter? I recovered, got the bike up, but not until a pile of dudes got past me. 5-6 or more. A big pack of them.  Fuck.  So I managed to get going again, picked pack off a few of them...

Now we had come through three times already, I saw them ringing the bell but when i looked back I thought I saw the #1 still flipped back and a #2 on the official stand so maybe there was one more or a mistake? we couldn't just do that few laps? seriously? THIS SHIT WAS FUN AS HELL. And I had places to get back, and most of the places I was getting back were not where we were going now that I ate shit in that spot.

Well...  we hit the intestinal track and AaronH jumped off his bike as I rode the section and he sprinted past, shit. If only my brain hadn't been in second to last lap mode.  He slipped away and onto the guys I was chasing, and they headed to the barriers with me a bit behind.

So we hit the pavement and I am riding up in coming to take the bell lap mode, SkinnyCraig is not, he's behind me and going full gas, shit. I look up AaronH is sprinting, Fuck. This is it.

Engine Room. FULL THROTTLE!

SkinnyCraig got a bike length as I reacted and stood up, but I saw the line, and poured on the coals, opened the door and sprinted, and I caught him. And beat him. For 49th (on the paper) or 50th (crossresults now).

Was a f'n blast. I killed myself in the sections I could unload lots of power, and then those PDX tubular just hooked right up.  The XTR v-brakes with travel agent certainly packed with a bit of mud but it was wet mud mostly so there was not much friction when rolling and I could still stop.  Wore a bit down on the brake track though.  Bike handled great. I rode the sand EVERY FUCKING TIME, right up to the stairs, never more than three or four steps before hitting the steps.  I did see Jerry faceplant in it though. HA HA. Sorry dude.

Was awesome racing. Really. Really. Really awesome.

Who knows what I was doing or where I was going but I wound up talking to St Germain for a bit, had a beer, headed down to get the pit bike, wound up talking to Solobreak and had another beer while talking for a while as the 3s raced around.  Eventually got Pit bike and stuffed it in the car.  Gave up and packed the unwashed Black Blue into the car, i can wash it later (rinsed it off at home - no soap or lube yet - could be in trouble). Checked in to the team tent, Gary was working on replacing his rear-der hanger, we did a bit of a tweak or to to make the hanger fit better, and then who knows. Wandered around.  Checked results, made the first page.  I MADE THE FIRST PAGE AT GLOUCESTER. for me that is huge. Very exciting. very very cool.  I beat a pile of people I never beat, like ever.  Then ran around and cheered the women racing.  A pile of good photos have turned up - Soups got a few good ones of me, most are up over at the face place place.  Post race I did grab a few photos, one of Doug R from Seattle racing with us and our Junior.

Eventually I made my way home, hanging out with the great crew and people at NECX was just awesome.

Except now, I'm sick. My head is exploding with snot. The price I paid for the racing wound up taking me down the road everyone else around me has been on.  Stupid colds.  Shit is terrible. So wrecked.

That said I'm just very moderately sore, i'm not beat up, nothing acute, just general, hey you raced yesterday soreness.  Didn't sleep at all last night though, massive leg cramps (dehydration), and snotting nose, sickness stuff totally messed me up.  Hoping to get some rest tonight and feel better tomorrow.

I dunno, what I did I miss? who knows - too many words already

Time for a few photos from my camera. I might stick a few up from a few other places later...

The clouds on the drive home...

heddwch

G

Providence this weekend.  Going to be insane leading up to it but I'm so looking forward to not driving ALL DAY to race.