Its all racin'

Ok, so maybe this isn't real visible, but Kevin took a great shot of Bobdog at Langley, as always, you can check out his great photos at demoncats.com.

Bob had a fabulous time on Sunday. As the best little team dog ever, he did his absolute best to be on his Sunday manners. Susan was holding him for awhile until he got dog napped by my friends at Fat Frogs who tickled him, snacked him, walked him and generally coo'd and ooh'd over him ALL DAY. Thanks Jeannie for keeping my little buddy in such high style.

And for those of you who were captivated by Bob... Braden has a little pom girl who he is trying to find a home for. He tells me she is the cat's meow, and I bet she would make your team a great mascot as well. Contact me and I'll help with the arrangements if you are interested.

Biker Bj at Conquer the Canal. See more photos at her website... bobandbj.smugmug.com

Saturday was an interesting day. The course at Conquer the Canal is on the old Rt 17 going southwest. Guess the wind direction... directly north east. So there was a bad head wind going out, but I swear nothing to help you coming back in. That is the most beautiful time trial course around, so there were no complaints from this corner.

I came down in a carfull of Schaeffers... if you don't think that gas prices have affected bike racing, your mind would have been changed if you had seen us. 4 of us in a Subaru, 3 bikes 6 sets of wheels, a cooler, only one trainer(because that's all we could fit), 2 chairs, and clothes. I was pretty sure I was going to have to hang onto the tailgate. It costs me $50 round trip in the truck so this was a big bonus in the pocket book.

The 40+ women's race again was tough. You hate to concede defeat before the line, but the BJ/Maria competition is a bit of a stretch for me right now. I could see BJ in the distance blowing some of the cat 4 chicks off the road, and at the turn around Maria went by me like a freight train. I kept her at about 100 meters the whole way back, but it cost a lot, as I barfed crossing the line. Yes, you can really say that "I left it all out there on the course."

It's competition like this that forces you to become a stronger rider. It's probably going to kill me, but I'm tryin'. James had to boogie out as soon as I crossed the line, but I ended up 3rd and BJ nipped Maria this time by a fraction of a second. Criminy, that's amazing.

Kudo's to my team mate Gregg Gammon on his first ever crit at Langley. That's him in the team kit flying around the course with the guys less than half his age. I was so proud of him, hanging in the pack looking chilly the whole time. And bigger kudos to Steve, man, that was the best I've ever seen you ride! And to Sean who I think was 6th? in the cat 4 race? Great riding.

Special thanks to all the Fat Frog guys and gals who kept me from throwing up again before the start of the track race. Gilbert rode a warm up with me and let me know that my front wheel was loose, and then his guys fixed it for me. Saved one opportunity to crash, and then good ole' George and Danielle talked me thru the first track race jitters. And they were all right, I had a blast. It was MUCH safer out there on the track with no brakes than in the crits, trust me. I hung with the guys, probably finished mid-pack and had a great time. As soon as I take that instrument of torture off the bike that Felt calls a seat, I'll be back.

The women's crit promised to be wild and woolie and it lived up to it's billing. Combining cat 1-3, cat 4, and 40+ in one field, with a couple cat 1 riders and several who want to be cat 1 riders... it was wild. I hate sit in and wait racing, but no breaks were getting away all day. And I knew, that that was not going to change for our race. So I told the girls to be calm, grab a safe wheel and try to be in the top 1/3. There were tons of feints at breaks but everything was shut down immediately. So we went round and round, managed to get thru with no crashes, but from my guys on the side-line the amount of cussing in the field probably hit a new record.

Girls, if you are going to race, you have got to train with other people. You have got to learn to ride in a pack. You simply can not just go where you want with no regard to the other racers. Its dangerous. And you will get cussed at. And your mother will blush at what can come out of the mouth of really nice women...

At the end... heck, I'm not even sure who won. I had to collect Bob and hit the road. I heard I was 4th in the 40 plus... That's about all I know. And I was 4th because J sacrificed herself and pulled me outside the field for a lap and a half and deposited me with 50 meters to go. So I may have to work on the ole' sprint ability with a free ride like that. Oh, well, its just racin'. And fun as hell at that.