Secret Squirrel SSCX and stuff

so what to say,

I had meant to start this on Sunday. I woke up bleary eyed, scrolled through notifications on the phone read them and then totally forgot about pretty much all of them - like for days - honestly. The ones that pestered me between then, well I was reminded. Why did I forget? I try not to do that, I don't have many people that still make an effort to reach out past my social handicap and I try to work on being reciprocal, but I fail quite a bit. Sunday was car day and shopping and other stuff I think. I don't remember but it was a busy day but it was good to take the momentum of the Secret Squirrel race and carry through.

And motherfucker it worked. Carried through right through even today. Tired now but not nearly anything like what I have been in the past after two days of course building. I wonder what the difference is? I'm also not feeling super tired. FOR A CHANGE HOLY SHIT!

I'm tired right now, will hopefully be able to fall asleep soon. That's such a huge difference from having to drink enough to essentially be able to pass out. Yeah, it wasn't good, and so now I'm pretty much going to have to do this for a while. And that's a good thing.

So Secret squirrel started off knowing that I needed to take the bike I haven't touched since Fruitlands and convert it back to single speed. So I did. Headed to the shop, got that done. Not I didn't just do the conversion.

I put some fat meaty tires on too. A big 45 Riddler up front and the 40 Nano that was on the front and not worn on the back. Set up was TOUGH and tight. Took a good bit of persuasion to get the Riddler to pop on and seat and be round. Unlike the Schwalbe (1st gen tubeless CX) that were too easy to put on (but held 25PSI for 4 weeks). Okay maybe they were down a bit when I changed them.

So the big tires on there, bit change. Also a tread pattern I haven't really used at all on the front.

Got my shit together, headed up. Found some parking, headed up and got number, hung out, watched a bit - didn't get shoes and stuff on until after the 123 race went off. But I was poised to hit the course as soon as they were done and got almost a full lap in, all but the tiny start/finish stretch. And the gear felt good, the course felt good, I could ride Heckle hill, I could hop all the logs and the two run ups were the two run ups. I liked the flow and got changed and pinned up and tossed on some embro.

And then eventually got started after a few parking lot laps with Eric the Viking and Matty O. Chatted while riding around, seeing all the great people of Singlespeed and CX. It was awesome. We headed eventually to the start. Got gridded up. I picked the left, kind of wanted the right but the left was the wide side of the turn and well it was a good move. Picking the middle would have left me picking myself up out of the big old pile up. We plowed towards the run up, managed to flow up pretty well, no standing around. Although Keith B was standing at the bottom putting a chain back on. Headed up, flowed through the heckle hill (I took the right most line the first time) down around past the terrifying footed barricades, and the pit and up the run up and well I was good - gap was opening an inch or so on each pedal section in front, but not too badly, but there was a big line behind me that wasn't able to pass. It was fun.

They got around eventually, I kept moving, racing, feeling good, hurting, lungs were dying, phlegm was building (gotta deal with that better some days there's no phlegm some days a ton). But I kept it pretty steady, full gas and then...

Here comes Mike W and Brad S. They are racing, mike's in the lead, oh shit they are in the same section behind me!!!! I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HOLD THEM OFF HOLYSHIT I MIGHT STAY ON THE LEAD LAP! FUCK YEAH...

Oh shit... I gotta RIDE and I tore up the course as much as I could.

Did i mention my front tire was acting kind of flat? Like there was a LOT more air in it when I checked the pressure and did the pre-ride. Well it held on and didn't go flat but it was fun/interesting/cool to ride a tire with that low of a pressure.

AND?

I beat Mike to the line and was granted ONE MORE LAP... HELL YEAH!

I could have slowed up, and been done. But no. I think Mike could see I wasn't giving up and was trying to go hard enough to stay in front and given his gap over 2nd place I think he probably sat up a little to let me go through, but I DON'T CARE.

I had fun racing.

It was a blast.

It is supposed to be that way right? ThomP did an interview and all the bead snot and everything, but it didn't make the final cut. I saw him today and he said it was in, then out, then back in, and finally out. I'm okay with that.

So I raced.

I worked on the car on sunday, did the shopping, cooked, split some more wood, shuffled more wood around (did that on Friday too as openers).

This week has been busy. I didn't get a couple things done. One of which is submitting to a gallery show that is due Sunday. Plan is to work on that tomorrow night. If I can move.

But I got a LOT more done than I thought I could. Mostly going non-stop, with a few twitter breaks here and there. Had some deep introspection a bit, more on the positive resolution side than normal so that was good to.

Odd how the shift happens. Takes getting one or two things done, and building from there. Problem is I keep building till it is too much then collapse. I've got a week and a few days to recover from this weekend before Seattle.

This week was also compressed because I used two vacation days I was going to lose. I used them to build the course. Two intense busy days.

Traffic going there and coming home has been NUTS. So many f'n accidents, and just too many f'n cars. But I'm glad I don't have to deal with that shit everyday.

So anyway. Here I am, it is late friday night here, I need a shower, and to work on finding my shit for tomorrow.

I did actually get on the course. I did two laps in the total blackness. But on the Crossrip+ (it has lights). Ripped it. It was fun. Amazing how much fun it is to have 350watts added immediately to the pedals w/o working. FLYING! Even the slick commuter tires were fine. It plowed and dug in in a few spots, it was a chore to haul up the stairs and over the barriers and across the sand but it was a RIPPING FUCKING BLAST! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THAT POWER without having the motor. Probably achievable, just isn't there now. But maybe motivation to find it. Because it was so cool.

And yes. I'm racing 40+ superfast masters 1-4 tomorrow, on my single speed. Because I can't go any slower than that gear and there were only a couple gears harder so, well, I'm gonna need to spin up the cadence for a few sections, and will have to go faster in others (rather than downshifting and going slower).

Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.

Beer is on me if you're drinking, if you can find me, I'll get you one or if you're lucky, two.

Also as of tonight: Jumpsuit crotch hole is patched, we're back in business.

heddwch
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