race reportage (une affaire sale)

First off - news of the ridiculous:

Detergent enzyme to mask EPO?

The theory goes this way: The athlete puts a little of the powder in the pockets of his pants. Before urinating, he puts his fingers into it, and urinates over his fingers at the control, so that the enzyme is mixed with his urine in the container. This little amount is sufficient to destroy the protein, and therefore the EPO, in the urine. "Protease is simply easy to use, cheap and available without prescription - and thus an almost perfect aid for the deceptive athlete," says the NZZ. [CN]

I know, i know ... serious stuff. But ~ i can't help myself with the gigglins when i imagine skinny-stick cyclists peeing all over their fingers, as TIDE slides out their pockets.

fukkin' idiots.

- - -


Well ~ I've got some cheeseball vids to youtube tonite ... then I'll splice them buggers in here to add spice and meatiness to my, otherwise, usual fluff and jiggytalk.

Sabine and I arrived about an hour before the start of the women's CCCX event. Now, the past couple years the CCCX crew have pulled their neandertalness into the 21st century and given props and cash'ola to the women's field. Good to see. Very good to see, actually, since we've had many a femme' US CrossWorld team member come from this area over tha past few seasons. And, the quality of the riders looks only to be rising again.

And so, as Sabine and I poached our "valet parking spot" (as Hibbard, the prototypical neandertal, called it) - it was noticed that more than a couple of the Original Bellas had their numbers pinned and were planning on taking the start. As soon as Sabine saw Laura's number pinned on her jersey only two words escaped.

"... I'm screwed."

bwaaahaahaaa.

Sabine hadn't been able to ride all week since InterBikeslut and work had been manhandling her into submission. And no amount of my sweet talking or waving of goodies in front of the nose was going to convince her she needed to put in 45 minutes of suffering out on the dirt. BUT ... one look at Laura (the original original Bella) with that race number pinned and there was no debate, no question, no hesitation (though lots of grumbling) ... Sabine was racing!

double bwaahahahahaa.

so, she ended up getting 2nd to Rockett Rona in the B's. Nice.

- - -

The Elite Women was a total frickin' knife fight with VeloBella Kerlinator going double fisted against the Rocketts' Stella Carey and cross-newbie Shelly Olds. The first lap was a blitzkrieg start with Stella doing all the demolition work. Kerlin would muscle her way to the front but then Stella would retake somewhere in the dark forests. All the while, Shelly was behind - stomping on the pedals in dogged pursuit.

About 3/4 through the race, Stella and Shelly switched places and it was a two woman race for the last couple laps. There was universal expectation that Kerlin would try and force a gap on Shelly through the technical back section of the course. Nobody held any doubts that Shelly's sprint was a thing to be tested. And, sho'nuff, out of the woods erupted Kerlin with a scant few seconds lead over the Rock Lobster rider. But christ did they hammer up that final finishing hill!

Fantastic race. Stella stuck out 3rd and looks to be finding the speed in her legs to compliment superior technical riding. Her speed endurance will come later this year and then ... it's on.

Actually, there were 3 very exciting women's finishes on Sunday. Our own BunnyX had herself a knock-down hairpull with a very nice woman (Rita Celeste Leon) for 3rd place in the B's. These two were grinding up the final 50 meters with everything ... I mean, everything. It was epic. And a couple minutes later came the 35+ top 2 fighting tooth and nail over the final barrier with the SCCC rider (Julianna Perry) finding strength from somewhere to overtake her competitor (Shauna Potocky) in those agonizing last few pedalstrokes.

Anyway, I'll try and get up some vids of the women and geezer mens' races tonite and maybe a few more pics that Sabine took. And maybe tap out some mo' scribblins.

later then,
m