racer-like

2/14/06: v-Day

Here in the land of schmoop and circumstance - there was partaking of pie, fruitly sweet and humbling. The word to describe ... tastey.

For those with an interest in such things ~ the Pie Crits.

We of the black pants and saggy bottoms logged-in some good training and notched another pre-season victory on the jockstrap. yay for the unSafeway boys.

Details?

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Lactic Pie Crits: early February-ish, fields of plenty, hopeful finishes, plastered tan-lines.

My memories of Santa Rosa run deep. One in particular is the epic 5 hour tandem ride with Plummer last year before his death. That day will always be in me. Gail winds at the top of King's after sprinting climbs, torrential rain as we descended down some unkown gravel dirt path, frozen bodies and devil-grin faces ... lost, lost, lost.

And so, when I saw Hutch's black band of mourning strapped to his bike, I knew that something had to be given out of memory to our brother.

For those who don't know, Hutcheeson is with the cream of NorCal cycling. He's a natzy champ, a district champ over again, and has won more of the glamorous events than you could probably name. And ... he's smooth like the vino.

Anyway, this weekend was the first time I'd had a chance to talk to him since Dan's death. It was a release.

So, the geezer's race turned into this epic throw-down between strong teams and cybernetic solo gunners. I really enjoyed myself.

A bit after it stopped hurting and right before it got real fast, me and another guy broke out from the pack and swung ourselves over the rocks. We each took pulls as we could and eventually our gap was enough to merit a fun and games finish. On the backside of the course I attack-ayed and went through the bell lap promenade for a SaferWay win. yip.

Every team was throwing down attacks and we ended up with da' PAB (3rd) and mr. Ma (5thA) sticking the podium. yummy.

Sidenote: the geezer race at Apple Pie was a knock-down slugfest. There are a good 6 or 7 teams that have gotten real, REAL organized for this year's racing in our region.

sheeyite. ... Overall impressions for those interested in our local scene - racing is getting way, waaaayyyy fast around these parts.

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For instance, the Women's 3/4, 30+ field was huge and very, very competitive. It was a chance for less experienced women racers to brush up against some of the best norcal crit riders (mcguire chix, dunns, paloalto, vbella, etc...). It was cool to watch.

I was particularly blessed to be able to see my own VB come back to her first crit in almost 2 years.

Healthy, happy, hurting.

Hungry.

Smiling.

Appreciating every moment -

Santa Rosa has good memories for me.

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Cherry Pie was a different path to the same goal - having a good time.

In the master's race, we of the unSafeWay were not too concerned with our results. We wanted to practice some stuff and learn more about our friendly competitors. It was an enjoyable enough race, but there were some serious accidents in the other fields that cast a pall on most of the day's efforts.

The men's 3 had a particularly nasty downhill pile-up that shattered bones, bikes, and co-pays. Ugh.

At this point, I'm reminded what a luxury it is to be healthy and free. I think back on the morning I received the phone call from Kerri that Dan had just died ... and I think about what I would feel if something like that took away my Love.

It's frightening ... so, i confirm to myself, again, that i will not waste these precious seconds being angry or bitter or frustrated about anything or anyone. No, instead ~ i think i'm going to have to choose schmoop and circumstance as the more enjoyable ways to pass these few trembling moments remaining to me and her.

Us.

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