Misnomer

A few of us went up to have a go at the District Road Championships in Challenge on Saturday. People were all abuzz with their "witty" wordplay about how Challenge would present a real Challenge. Hilarious. If they wanted a truly descriptive name it would have been called the Skinny People Do Hill Repeats, Humiliate the Field and Make Them Want to Call it a Season Road Race. I'm going to lobby them to change the name.

Yet this race was memorable, if not for the team's great success then for the epic 7 hour drive, followed by a night spent sleeping in the dirt only to be awakened by Big Rick's bellowing at 6:15 in the morning. I did see some pretty incredible shooting stars, and I got to feast on delicious almond croissants that T. Dibbs and Phil talked me into buying. Huffy had himself a pretty incredible little ride to get some redemption for the team. He ended up 4th overall and 1st in the U23 category and Vinny hung tough for a solid 8th place. That's right. The Wolfman is U23 champ of all three disciplines. Nice.

We sacrificed another nights sleep to do the Esparto TT Sunday morning. Another TT, another 3rd place. It seems the top 3 are always the same, race in and race out: Phil 1st, Jesse 2nd, me 3rd. I think from now on I'm just going to send in my reg fees along with a letter requesting that they give me 3rd by default and mail me my t-shirt and 5 bucks. I did manage to beat my previous course best by about a minute and a half, which is sweet, although I think that was thanks to Bill and Russ, who loaned me a TT helmet and an unholy front wheel. Something about a 5am wake-up call doesn't facilitate solid cognition, hence the need to borrow these small necessities. Dibstar also put in a pretty good ride considering his lack of TT specific training and Huffy was only 3 seconds off another U23 victory. Good work all around.

Big thanks to Lou and Janice for putting us up at their place in Fairfield. But here's a little tip for you two: if you don't want smelly, vagabond cyclists stinking up your house you shouldn't feed them delicious burgers and decadent desserts. You're lucky you got rid of us! It did give me a wonderful idea for a children's book entitled, "If You Give a Cyclist an Oreo Cheesecake Mini." Seriously, though, thanks a ton for a place to stay, great food and better company.

I'd like to write a bit more, but I have to go crank up the Pantera, do 500 push-ups and self flagellate to get fired up for the sweat-soaked, bloody mayhem that is the Giro d'San Francisco. Happy Labor Day!