TDG and a new team March 20, 2008
This past weekend saw the start and end of the Tour de Gainesville. I am proud to say I was at both. In all honesty, I will also say that I audibly quit more than once, only to get up and ride some more. Let me re-cap:
The start was amicable. Great folks all around and obvious that a few folks even travelled in to town for the ride, which is nice to see. We departed Matt’s house with somewhere around 60-65 riders, one rider for each mile of the course map. The first bit of trail was fast, I mean fast. Like chomping at the bit. I settled in in the first couple of sections. A little crash let a small gap open, but it was only temporary. Everyone who could kind of re-grouped after each trail section for the most part.
Disaster struck first when I broke a spoke. I was riding Ksyriums so I couldn’t just let it go. I bailed and rode back to the apartment for a wheel change on a quickly deflating tire. New wheel installed, I headed up to where I figured the leaders would be and back-tracked the route until I found them. They blazed by me and the chase was on again. The course started heading into the wetter sections of trail, which was bogging down the couple of folks I was chasing with, so with me on the ‘cross bike, I jammed on it and caught the first group again.
That’s when the water got deep. Certain sections we rode the only visible part of the bikes were the saddle and the bars. I rode until I hit something deep below me, then pretty much ran the rest of the way, which was like 500 yards of aqua-robic hell. All the while I just kept looking out for snakes or other weird deadly Florida fauna.
Disaster came for a second visit in the form of double fucking flats, I rode them for as long as possible then stopped for a quick fix. The lunch stop was coming up soon and I knew all the folks I was riding with would be there for a while, so no problem. But then…
. ..my pump shits the bed and seizes up and will not pump air any more. There is no one for a long way behind me. I say “F” this and decide there that it’s over for me, but something in my brain nagged me and I rode the damn flat tires all the way to lunch, all told, about four miles. That made the first half about 30 miles for me.
Lunch was fantastic and much needed, and the second half went off without to much of a hitch, No mechanicals, I only said I was quitting one more time, and didn’t, and I took an involuntary dive into a creek only to be caught by a net of roots. I was the second to finish the ride, which came to a total of 63 miles, and promptly sat in the hot tub and drank many beers til I was delirious.
In other news, the move to Philly is drawing near. Nathalie and I are driving up in mid-April to check out some houses and job prospects. I am excited to have a place where I can stretch out and not touch every wall. The Thule Trasquatch pulled a string or two in my favor, resulting in me having a hard case for the bike, leaving me with the dilemma of where to put it in the house, since it is about the size of one of the rooms here.
Coinciding with the trip to Philly, I will be attending the first meeting and ride of my new team: Rapha Continental!! How fortune found me to smile on I won’t ever know, but this is great news for me. The guys I already know, I am excited to get to spend more time with away from the emotional rollercoaster that is the ‘cross season, and the folks I don’t yet know, I can’t wait to meet. The whole idea of the team really appeals to me as I grow weary of the road racing scene as a whole. I will still do the few road races I truly love, but no more toeing the line at drearycycles.com’s industrial park crit just to stay on top of my game. Not to mention those Rapha clothes, ooooh.
Our alley-cat race is coming together great. Brendan, Mike and myself have gotten it going pretty well, and the Biz Casual theme should be hilarious. The format is pretty much a rip off of the Nightmare/ Christmas race Bobby did in Prov. last Fall but without the team aspect. A brilliant format.
Other than that, I guess I’ve been reading all your blogs rather than post on mine, but started feeling a little cheap about it. Sounds like everyone is doing good, but all the talk of riding trainers is sending chills to my bones annoying whirring sounds to my ears.
when are you moving back to providence? its kinda lame here without you.
Rapha? Sweet! Who rides trainers up here? Us real slow guys still just ride outside you know, hey wait a minute maybe that explains a few things?? Good luck in Philly, be sure to say hi to Boys to Men for me!