6/03/2007

In Memorium of the Crashers

Hello ABDers,
There has not been one memorial weekend that I have finished in both
the Melon city and Quad city races. Until last weekend, that is.
I started my long weekend by racing in the Masters day crit,
against a ginormous field of about one other junior girl. I'm not
sure if she was in my age group. About two laps into the race my
super threatening competition was dropped. I win. The end. No,
but the race continued for I was still riding with another huge
field consisting of Theo Q. (no, I'm not attempting that last name)
and some Mack rider who looked to be about 23 years old (he was
really 18 years old for all of you who don't get the sarcasm). I
had nothing really to do, so I became an annoying little twerp and
attacked about every other lap, forcing the Mack guy to chase. It
was finally after the Mack guy took a long, hard pull and was
drinking from his water bottle that I attacked again (I'm just so
mean) and formed a break with Theo. After working the entire race,
we came upon the Mack guy on the very last lap, about 50 yards
away. He took one look over his shoulder and started to sprint
desperately to stay ahead of us, but I, being the Ego-crusher, just
couldn't let that happen, so I hammered to catch him and beat him to
the line taking (oh my gosh! Could it be!) 1st place in my category
and Theo took 1st in his.

Sunday we made it to Weed Park for the Melon City crit
nearly 3 hours away. This was the home of the infamous speed-bump-
at-bottom-of-very-big-hill course—just all the more excitement. I
was also glad Susan could join me in all the fun as well. It was
indeed quite interesting with about 45 women there, zipping down a
humongo hill fighting for position. When it came down to the bell
lap, I was caught behind a large group that sat curb to curb going
up the hill, so I had to settle for 17th even though I was feeling
very good and could have done better.

It was Monday's race, though, that was the much
anticipated. Who can't love a race that's called "Rage in the
Cage"? I have some very fond memories of this race: my first
season two ladies went down in front of me on the last lap of the
women's 4s; my second year I was sandwiched in a turn and cracked my
frame. Good times. This year would be different, though, for I was
assuming my bunny face, ready to bunny hop when the time came. I
think it worked, because the women took one look at my bunny face
and stayed as far away from me as possible. My two goals for this
race were: 1) keep the rubber side down and 2) place top 20 (in the
money).

The course was packed with eight turns in about 2 minute
laps. It wasn't long after making one turn that you were rounding
another turn. The flatness of the course also kept the pace high,
making the wind whoosh through my ears around the turns like a being
on a roller coaster, except the only difference was that with just
one false twitch, you could be making some intense contact with the
pavement. Susan leapt around the field of 40 like a rabbit on
drugs, easily sitting at the front or back, while my progress was a
little slower, more like a rabbit on a hangover, remaining cautious
and preferring the easiness of the back. As it came down to the
end, I finally decided I needed to be farther up to place well, and
made it into the top twenty by the time I made the last turn, and
sprinted to a 17th place…the exact same place as the day before. I
was just happy to finish the race for once.

I want to thank all the ABDers who came and made the weekend
so much fun and congratulate Susan Peithman for her high pack
finishes, Joel (Susan's boyfriend) for his strong racing, Marilyn
Powell and Jenny Cerwin (my mother) for their awesome 1st and 3rd
at the Masters crit, Conrad Witt for a 1st in the jr 10-12 and 13-
15, Theo Q. for his 1st in the jr men 17-18, and all the other
numerous ABDers who raced.

On to Winfield…
-Jessi

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