Spin City Classic

Maybe it was the excitement of a race bike, but it did feel much better. The one thing I noticed was the stem was too short, and I felt like I was all over it. If I’m going to go to the Spin City Classic, then I have to get another stem put on. So the next morning I skipped the Sheridian Ride, and went by the shop to get Tony to put on another stem. This one was longer, and felt closer to how the Pinarello felt. I take the bike around the shop for a spin, and I feel more comfortable on it. So I got home and Ms. P has everything pack for our 190 mile road trip up to Orlando. Joel L, a Cat 5 racer is driving up to race, so that is one guy that I know of. The whole way she is looking at his book as I play with my ipod that has Off Road to Athens Playing through the car speakers. She looks at me and says, “ I want a dog”! I look at her, and say “ What”! She said you just bought a $5000.00 bike, and I want a dog. I look at her, and I said, “Do you realize my bike doesn’t poop? She started laughing. We stay silent for a little bit, then say, small dog, easy temperment, and semi-independent”. She shows me the open book, and it’s picture of Yorkie. I said, do your research, then come back to me when you are ready.

We drive into Orlando, and I’m anxious to get out and ride, but I have to find a parking space. About 2 miles from the exit, a Red Ford sports car comes flying passed me with a Black Honda Civic in tow. I look at Ms. P, and she says, “He has to Pee”, and we both start laughing. As I get off the exit, I call Joel to see if he knows exactly where to go since he races before. He says, “That’s you behind me right”. I look in front of me and I see the Red Ford, and I say “ I don’t see your Explorer”. He said, “I bought a Mustang”, and I started laughing. I said, that was you racing the Honda? “He said I’m just getting ready”. I follow him as we get around the city only to find out he doesn’t know where to park. After a few circle I decide to find my own place to park. I park in the building that has Bank of America on the top floor which is about 4 blocks away.

We have about 90 mins before my race, so we decide to go get a quick bite to eat and I would register at the same time. We I have a turkey wrap with chips and OJ, and Ms P had some of the best looking curly fries you ever want to put you eyes on. I register and go back to the car to get dress and focused to race. From the car I can see that Joel has already been dropped, and is in a group with 3 other riders. When I get back I ask Ms P, “Was there a crash”, she say “ Nope, Joel got dropped”. I said, “They haven’t been racing 10 mins yet”. We both look at each other, and she say’s “He’ll have to race is new Mustang back on the turnpike to get his moneys worth.

We have to wait at the Cat 5’ers finish there race. As we wait I see some familiar faces in the crowd. C. Wright from the Rosewood, Oasis from the Mtn bike scene, and Felix Perez. Now, I have a long history with Felix. Back in 04 when we were beginners I beat him in every race we had in the spring mtn bike series. He actually didn’t show up for the last race, and I later found out he didn’t want to lose again. That was 2004, and I didn’t see him again until the Fall of 2005 at a mtn bike race in Bellview. Now, fast forward to 2007, when he has his own team called “Preferred Alliance” which is his mortgage company and he is the title sponsor. He is fit, and has at least 3 riders working for him. We chat a little and he informs me that he is winning the State Series in Cat 4. Wow, I thought, this should be an interesting race to say the least.

We are off and the pace is high, and I haven’t settled in yet. I’m noticing that the course is bumpy and I don’t have the clean lines yet (Excuse the mtn bike talk). I start to feel like the bars are getting away from me and they are. Tony didn’t tighten my stem enough and now my bars keep going down every time I hit a bump. I have to grab the hoods and pull them back up. I look down at my HR monitor, and it says 6mins, 42 seconds. I say to myself, “ This is going to be a long race”. I start to think about my options. Option 1: Stop and see if I can get someone to let me borrow an allen key. Nope, I don’t know if I pull out to stop if they will pull me from the race. I’m such a rookie, I don’t even know the freaking rules. Option 2: Let myself get dropped, go back to the car and Ms. P will probably tell me to race the other cars back home to get my moneys worth. That’s not gonna work either. Option 3: Pull the handlebars back up after ever freaking bump I it. Great! I found a temporary solution to this problem.

Once I have my plan down, I start to focus on the actual race. Once I’m back in the race I realize that my HR is like 10 beat higher than what it normally is. The course is up and down, and the backside has an awful headwind. There is at least 1 turn that is on the red bricks, and it has hay on that corner just in case something happens. I then realize I need to get use to pulling the bars back up, or I need to find the smoothest part of the course. There was no smooth part of the course, so I was back to Option 3. I started looking for my usual suspects. I found C. Wright and Felix with his Preferred Alliance train near the front. Every time we made a right turn, I stole a couple of spots and eventually got to them. We all trades spots near the front. Felix sees me keep adjust the bars, and she say’s “ Fix those bars Pacer”, I ignore him as we make a turn. I say to myself” Option 3 Pacer, option 3”. They ring the bell for 5 laps to go, and there goes the attacks. This is a Cat 4 race so a lot more of the attacks happen, and they are stronger attacks. I look back and I swear it looks a like we still have the same 70 riders that started. With 2 laps to go I’m still deciding if I really want to go for the sprint. I’m not sure how the bars will handle that kind of all out effort. Plus, I’m new to this bike. I’m still waiting for an answer to come to me. One lap to go, and say “Having no plan is best”. So I keep myself completely in the dark. Around the last turn riders start to go for it. I’m easily in the 20’s, and it totally breaks apart. There is no organized train at all. Everyone has to do their own sprint, this is my favorite kind of sprint. I wait for the last set of bricks, and I launch my attack. I easily past 10 riders on the right side (Including Felix) and my bars are sliding, but I can manage it. I finish the sprint in the top 10 (In the money) and my bars are almost completely upside down.

I go back to the tent, and everyone is swearing up and down that they finished in the top 10. What is worst is the video they use was malfunctioning, so they are trying to guess where the riders place. I look on the list and I didn’t even see my number at all. I look at 3 riders and I say, “ I pass all 3 of you guys”, they all agree, and we are back to square one. After about 10 more minutes I walk over to Ms. P and say “We have a quagmire”, because the video that records the finish was not working. Everybody is over there holding up there numbers saying they are in the money. Ms. P held up the camera and said, “I video taped the finish”. I said, “ Women, See, that’s why I’m gonna marry you girl”, “ It’s a Bonnie & Clyde thang”. Girl, Bonefish is on me when we get back.

I take my camera over to the scoring table and within 4 mins we are down to 12 guys. All those guys that had ambition to be in the top 10 got there numbers pulled. One guy didn’t even finish in the top 20 and was there politicking for a top 10 spot. We watched it over and over until the battery went dead. By then the scorers had an idea of how the placing went. I was given the 6th place money, so I accepted 6th place in my heart. When I check the website later, I was put down for 7th place I have the video here. You help me decide where I finished. I’m wearing the blue and white uniform.


Pacer Out!