So, So Far Behind

Which describes the state of this blog and also a few races of late. Oh Snap!

I'm missing about five race reports on here. I'm going to really gloss over the earliest two. Cam-Rock was a lot of fun. I took a dollar hand-up from Jason's back pocket and just kind of rode to see how I would do in the 1/2's. (I think I got 8th out of about 14?) Gibbs Lake was the next day, and I rode with a different attitude. With Cale's prodding, I decided to try to get a good start. A few minutes in, however, I stopped because I thought one of my spokes had broken and was hitting the frame. It turned out to be just a stick or something (the noise was gone when I stopped) and that put be behind everyone. Everyone. I worked my way back up to about 7th and then started to... shall we say.. goof off? I had passed a girl and put her behind me, and during the last lap when I was taking a dollar hand-up with my teeth from Cale's back pocket, she passed me up. The rest of the lap there were few easy passing points, and she rolled in ahead of me. I was pretty disappointed that she had edged me out for 6th or 7th or whatever it was, but then I had made a dollar and gotten mad style points, and she had won nothing.

Last weekend was the Washington Park Halloween race. My parents came to town on Saturday and watched the race on Sunday. I'll have to admit, I was a pretty rotten hostess and didn't have anything super fun for them to do. Next time, I'll have to plan better. A highlight, though, is that my dad threatened to make "cat soup" out of Snips. But anyhow, the race. My parents were watching, as well as Cale's parents, and then my boss showed up to race. Which is not an incredibly big deal, but my costume for the race was kind of offensive.

What it was: I was a Red Hot Chili Pepper (the band) circa 1980's. Back when they used to perform in nothing but a sock covering their private bits. I had gotten a nude colored body suit and sewn a sock and some 'pubic hair' on it. In my head it was a funny idea, but in actuality, it was more than a little disturbing, since the body suit matched my skin color pretty well, and the fake pubes looked creepily real. Add to that (that being a costume with male attributes) a bosom, and you've got a really disturbing image. I think I gender confused quite a few young children.

Most of the reactions I got ranged from positive to disbelieving, but I think there were a few parents (of kids) there that were upset. (I'm sorry) To my parents' credit, they didn't hide when I introduced them to anyone, or mutter anything like "...should have sent her to a Military school..."

To get to the race, though, the costume worked fine. It was a little cold to start out with, but once I was racing I felt pretty warm. I wound up getting third, but then a lot of the top ladies were at various different/better/less enjoyable races. There was a 'Bunny Hop or Die' board again, and this year it was doused in white gas and lit up as people rode over it. There's a really great picture of one guy riding through flames that are licking through his wheels and as tall as his head. Apparently the officials were less than thrilled about it, but hey, this is Wisconsin 'cross. If we wanted rules against fun, we'd go down to Illinois.

In my race it was only smoking, though. About two laps from the finish, I was neck and neck with the girl who wound up getting first place. She was dismounting instead of bunny hopping, and I was making a tiny gap each lap. I was hopping really poorly, though. I'm so shamefully bad at bunny hopping. I would get my front wheel up and then slam the rear one against the board, just like last year. (Still no improvement!) Anyhow, on this lap my poor form landed me on the ground. There are some amazing photos of it at PelotonPics. I think I might have to buy them.

In the first photo, you can see me hitting the ground and tucking into a roll. In the second photo my legs are all akimbo, but my right mitt is already curled around the bars and I'm struggling to get up while still tumbling across the ground. I was so mad that I had fallen and messed up my thin lead that I was scrambing to go forward even while rolling on my back. What a champ. Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to get up that I fell on my knees again before I could get on the bike and chase after her.

I eventually caught up, but I got a little tired from the effort. I stayed in 3rd place while she passed second to clinch the win. So it was a bit of a disappointing race, but I had a good time regardless.