But there is no use in creating an entire post of my gripes and complaints. A little over a week ago, our crew from the Freeze Thaw Cycles team went out to Marysville for the visitPA.com Mass Team Relay (it had a much longer title, which you can look up for yourself). We were able to put the team together last minute thanks to a midnight phone call from Clay and a more than generous credit limit from Visa. The team was comprised of Clay Chiles, Vicki Barclay, Rachel Lauer, and me. Here are some "borrowed" and cited (all photos from here) photos from the event that will let you pretend like you were there.
As you can tell from the first two photos, the course had some very muddy sections to it. The laps were pretty short, which allowed good heckling opportunities, as well as good beer drinking opportunities. Due to the handicapping on the race (which was half arbitrary and half sensible) we did not really stand a good chance of placing. Therefore, I took personal liberties to maximize the beer drinking component of the race starting immediately after my first lap. I only ended up having to do three laps, one of which I was able to meet my goal of a sub-sixteen minutes lap time. This lap time was seven seconds slower than the best time of my good friend/training parter/TBS liason/doppleganger Mr. Denny Reel, shown below.
Denny has been kicking my ass into shape for the last couple years, and it may be starting to show a bit. I met up with Denny at Shingletown today to take advantage of the good weather. However, someone dealt me a bad hand today as I was on the losing end of two flat tires during the ride and a third flat as we reached the parking lot. So it goes. Tubeless may be in my future again.But as far as Marysville goes, the handicapping ensured we would do pretty poorly in the results field, but I don't think any of us really cared about that. We all had a good time, got the legs burning a bit, and drank beer. That is a pretty complete event in my book.
After a week off from stresses, I was able to get out for a quick spin on Saturday. With time constraints I was only able to hit the Tuxedo/Tussey Ridge combo, but it ended up being a fantastic ride. I love riding the ridge, but haven't been able to get out to it over the past few months. Yesterday I scoped out the core loop portion of the R3 epic route through Rothrock. The route I rode was only 19 miles, but included almost 3,000 feet of climbing. The entire route is 32 miles with over 5,000 ft of climbing. I would have liked to do more of the full route, but I forgot to include any food with me so I ended the ride after two very satisfying hours. The route did take me down Croyle Run, which is an incredibly fun descent. The last time I rode it was while sweeping the Wilderness 101, so I was not able to enjoy it then. Sunday, however, I was able to take it at full pace and ended with a wide grin on my face. The route was a great change of pace to my usual routes, and I felt strong, so it was another good day.
I will be spending most of my week looking forward to the MASS race at Fair Hill this Sunday. But I am even MORE excited about the week after, which is the Greenbrier race! School just can't finish up quick enough for me right now...
So, what do you do when life gives you lemons? I can't say I know the appropriate answer, but I do know after my citrus overdose it feels good to get back to basics. With school winding down I will be back to the simpler lifestyle of riding and making money, with riding as the top priority. So damn the lemons, I like the way things are shaping up these days.
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