Race Report - FSC # 6 - Oleta State Park

I have to be honest in saying this is going to be a huge, long, funny, inspiration, though-provoking, foul-mouth post. If you are offended at language, then close this window and go watch some Internet Porn. This is a very long post, so I’m sorry if you don’t have enough time. You may need to read a portion before dinner, then the rest after. I experienced everything you could possibly experience on the Friday and Saturday before the race and I hope I can bring you into my state of mind for the race on Sunday.

So, let’s get things moving with the conflict. This ceramic bottom bracket is totally shot after riding it for only 2 months. What is worst, is Nick can’t get the bottom bracket off because he stripped the bolts that hold down my crank. It’s a Rotor Ovalized crank that has 2 screws, and the inner screw pushes the non-drive side crank off. On top of that Nick has quit working at the shop, so now I don’t even know who the hell to deal with on this dilemma. I drop the bike off at the shop on Friday, and I was told that Nick was going to come by, so I left the bike. I got a call from Bob McCarty, and we decided to meet at 10am to do a preride before his clinic.

The next morning I get to the shop, and my bike has not been touched. Nick couldn’t make it in. I have the bottom bracket that is shot and has serious play. Not bad, right? Wrong! It squeaks like a 100 year old door that the hinges has not been lubed. I take the bike anyway, and I’m on my way to Oleta and I’m brainstorming on how to troubleshoot this problem. I have a XTR crankset with oval rings on it, but I can’t get this crank off, so my solutions are gathering.

I get to the course, and I’m almost embarrassed to pedal because the noise is so loud, but I have to at least do one lap to say that I know it for the race. I was excited about watching some of the cyclocross because I had never seen one live. Here are some pics that I took.






The noise started to bother me more and more as I rode around and chatted with the guys. There is not many time when I say I’m ghetto, but on this shit, “I look like I’m Ghetto”. I have a $5000.00 race machine, and I have a trival problem with it that is going to drive me crazy. I feel this darkside brewing inside of me that has not been out in a while, and I’m trying to keep it at Bay. But these isolated incidents are bringing it to the surface. Worst case would be me just racing it and annoying the hell out of anyone that is near me. I chatted with Bob and John Meyers and as we road away to do the lap, and I warned Bob about the impending noise pollution. When he heard the noise, he said, “I gotta get my ipod”.

We go in a little bit after Campbell, Matt H, Oscar, and I was hoping we would not catch them, I didn’t want to annoy too many people, but Bob was putting down a lap close to race speed. We did catch the Campbell group, and we went slower and finished up with a 33min lap.

I told Bob I wanted to kill myself every pedal stroke, and he said I he wanted to kill you too. Now Bob is anal about his bike operating perfectly, so he asked if he could take a look at it. Since I had a quarter inch of play on the non-drive side, he wanted to see if he could unscrew the bottom bracket cup to make the play disappear. See, Ghetto! It didn’t work as the noise was the same. He looked at it and said he could get the crank off, but I would have to use another crank. Great! Something is coming together on this. I can put my XTR crank back on with the XTR bottom bracket, and I’m ready to race. So, Bob and I decided to meet up at his shop at 4:30 to put the crank on. So I went back to the car and chatted with Oscar and Adam. Oscar asked me to hold up Adam if he catches me first. Adam did the same thing, but I had to ask him for some money, because he is Jewish. Yes I did! I just did a blatant stereotype. Wanna know why? Because I know that Jewish dude can buy my black ass, and put me out in his backyard to pick crabgrass.

Robert, Tim, Campbell, Matt, Greg D, and Sean come over and we all chat. I ask Greg and Sean to give a brother a lift tomorrow in the race. “I won’t be selfish, and I won’t even be disgruntle for making a brother sit at the back of the bus”. Sean said he would give me a lift if I would give him a mention on my blog. He is the latest person to say that he enjoys the reading, even to the point of asking for a mention. So I’m going to give him a “Gangsta Ass Mention” a little bit later.

I get back to the car, inspect the bike, and realize I have some leakage in the tires and I have to figure out which place to go to get a good tire. See, another point for the Darkside. Active Cycles didn’t have any small block eight’s so I made a drive up to North Broward to my former team B&J to get a Python, because they are just reliable tires. On my way to the shop the gas light comes, and I basically ignore it as I’m pressed for time. Damn, another point for the darkside. I have to get the tire, get home, grab the crank, and get back down to Bob’s shop to take the Racer-X into surgery.

I get to B&J; shoot the breeze with Enzo, Bobby, and Ezio. His mom was there, and we chatted also. Enzo was telling me the story of how he did an adventure race that morning, and he almost drowned on the swim portion. He put my tire on and we chat a little bit longer before I hit the road. I get back home and it’s time to leave again, so I walk in, and grab the crank. Now, I realize I don’t have the bolts to hold the non-drive side crankarm in. In addition, I don’t have the bolts that screw into the drive side that holds the cranks together. This freaking thing is getting worst by the moment and another 2 points for the darkside.

I set out to Bob’s shop, and I’m already late. I give him a call, and explain I don’t have 2 of the XTR crank bolts. He is a straight up all purpose handy man with a huge shop, and I was hoping he would say he had some. But he said, “Well, that is not good”. Another damn point for the darkside. Now, I know I’m in trouble because I have no way to get bolts. Then, the car putters, and all of a sudden it stalls. I’m going 50mph, I’m 3 miles from the house and the damn car just ran out of gas. 5 points for the darkside. I say “Oh shit”, Bob says “What?” I say, “I just ran out of gas”. As I’m pulling the car on the shoulder I lose his signal. How could I let this happen, see, Ghetto.

Now, I’m on the side of the road trying to see if I can start the car. I know Mrs. P is taking a nap and her phone is on silent. I try to start the car, it does, but when I put it Drive, it turns off. “I’m out of fucking gas”, “Ain’t this a bitch”. I call Mrs P’s phone, NO answer. I call her work phone, NO answer. I call 4 times, 5 times, and NO answer. Bob calls me back and I explained the dilemma to him. He said, “You should just pack it up and race with the crank like that”. What is worst is I’m 20 minutes from the house, and it’s 4:40pm. The shop closes at 5pm. 2 more points for the darkside. Bob and I decide to meet at the shop because it’s closer. I call the shop, and I ask Tony to stay open, and he say no problem.

So, I get out of the car, take my bike off the rack, put my wallet and phone in my pocket. Now I have to ride back to the house, wake Mrs. P. up so we can get gas, then get back to the car. 3 more points for the darkside, as I ride into a headwind, into traffic moving at 50mph, wearing sandals and ping pong shorts. The crank arm sounds like a monkey being stabbed. No, it sounds like an evil monkey being stabbed.

It’s my luck that I have to ride up on the damn Po Po’s as they have pull over a minivan. They have a white dude with his hands on his head, and they are checking his pockets. Here is a black dude riding up on the Police on the freaking highway. Now, that shit is just plain ghetto. One of the cops walks up to me as I get off the bike to talk to him. I tell him I ran out of gas, and I’m going to the gas station to get gas. He gave me the “ Keep your ass moving” look, and I keep rolling. Neutral experience, no points to the good or darkside.

I get home and I wake up Mrs. P. and explain to her what has gone down, and she rolls out of bed and puts on clothes. The Honda hybrid is out of gas, which has the rack on it that is on the side of the road. Now, I have to take all the stuff out of the Jetta so I can get the bike in the back. Having to run those things up and down the stair hit me with another damn point for the darkside.

We get to the gas station, and I have to buy one of those containers. I get the 2 gallon container and fill it up. 1 point for the goodside, then I’m back to the car. I putting gas in the car while traffic is going by at 55mph and I’m scared has hell. As I’m putting in the gas, I keep looking up at traffic because the cars are moving so fast. I start laughing at how I’m reacting and I look into the Jetta and Mrs. P is laughing her ass off. I get the gas in, and the car starts and I’m off to the shop. Ok, one more point for the goodside.

I call Bob and tell him I’m on the way to the shop, and Tony is going to keep it open for us, and he says he is walking out the door. Mrs. P follows me to the shop to make sure that there are no more mishaps with the car. I take the bike out of the Jetta, and just before she leaves, she says, “We still have Wes’s party tonight right?” Shit! I totally forgot we had to go to his get together tonight. If I have never mention Wes, he is the reason I got into mtn bike. Before I had ever rode any singletrack I was teaching a Spin class in Coral Springs. Wes had got a membership, and came in to take my class. I was talking all this mumbo gumbo about feeling the air across your face, trying to motivate the class. After the class Wes said he wanted to take me out to mtn bike. I said, “Hey man, I act”. He convinced me it would be fun. We met at the fitness club, and he had an extra Schwinn Homegrown on the back of his truck. We went to Markham, and I hit every freaking tree in that place. I also had one of those crashes that is worthy of getting a millions hits on youtube. I bought that bike from Wes, and that was all she wrote. The next year I won the Beginner 25-29 and was voted most improved rider. See.

A picture of Wes and I in 1999 before I knew that jerseys with the arms off was kinda lame.

A picture from the banquet, and yes I still have that unopened bottle of champagne.

A picture of the plaque from being most improved rider.


Ok, back to the story. I get to the shop, and Bob show up about 5 minutes later. Bob is able to get the stripped bolts out, and the crankarms off. But it won’t go all the way back in because it’s stripped and that is where the play is coming from. On top of that we don’t have the bolts for my XTR crank. So, I have a Rotor Crank that has 2 stripped bolts, and a XTR crank with no bolts. 2 points for the darkside, as I try to think of something. So I get ghetto and I start looking around the shop for any bike with an XTR crank so I can steal that bolt. There is not one in the shop to steal, so we have to think of an alternative plan. The last resort is to put the crank back on, and ride it out. But Bob says he has a Bontrager crank that is new, and we can put that on, but it has regular rings. I told him we can try to put on my ovalized middle ring, if not, I’m going to have to run it regular. By this time Bob wifean sister in-law are at the shop because they are on their way to dinner with her father. We agree that the Bontrager crank is our only true option, so we leave it on that note.

I’m back in the car, and the dark side is all over me. I hadn’t been to this place in a long time. All that has happened today has been changing me from Anakin to you know who. I buried this attitude in 2004 when I retired from table tennis and it has only surfaced a few times in cycling. It is called the “Nigga Reserve”. Yeap! I said it, Nigga! That word to me represents an ignorant person. I’ll tell you what it represents to me as far as my career is concerned. The “Reserve”, as I’ll call it from now on to not offend anyone else. But the “Reserve” is what I used to advance my table tennis career. When I played table tennis, it was not for glory, fame, or the prestige. It was for money. My attitude was I’m going to win this tournament because I need the prize money to pay for my trip to San Diego. Or I’m going to win these 5 tournaments because it’s a down payment on my car. My favorite was I’m going to win this tournament because I “Need” to pay my rent. For the record, I never lost that tournament.

That attitude started with my country ass cousin name Earl that was 1 yr older, and could out perform me at any sport of show of strength. What was worst was his attitude, and ability to taunt me. For example he would tell me he could jump across the ditch, and I was bitch because I couldn’t. He would taunt me like this, before he did the jump.


Our course he would make the jump of about 20 ft, and look over at me and say something like this.

Man, that fool would have me red hot. And having anyone do that to you, eventually brings out the ignorant, and looks like this.

That change in attitude is happening in the car, and I now know I’m gonna use the “Reserve” this one time, and I don’t have a good reason besides frustration. Since the first race I have not had 1 solid week of training. Either I was over-training, or under-training. Or I was getting hurt, and needed to recover, or I just crashing out of the race. I never got down on myself, and it was never a quiet ride home from the race. I had shaken the experience off before I had even left the course. But the last 2 weeks of training has been the best this year. All of it was by myself, and every session I did was Perfect. I can’t let this great effort go down the drain because of this bike dilemma. So I’m gonna rock that Bontrager tomorrow when I get on the line. I don’t care if it is with normal rings, I’m competing for something bigger than myself now.

I get home, and I’m actually in a good mood and I’m looking forward to hanging out with my boy Wes that has totally turned into a roadie. I shower up, get change and I’m off to Wes’s house. I had the impression that there would be over 40 people here, and almost all would be mtn or road bikers. We were a little late, and I was expecting his yard to be packed with cars, but it was only 2 cars out there. We go in and it’s only Don and Alex. Damn! My boy got stood up by at least 40 people. He had a freaking 6ft sub, exotic drinks that you can make yourself, and over 80 beers. He started telling me about all the people and their lame ass excuses for not being able to make it. We still had a good time talking about the Cotto/Mosley fight, cycling, and women.

At the end of the night Wes wanted to show me his new Giant road bike, and we went into his garage. That new Giant was a beauty. He told me he had went mtn biking that afternoon, and I looked at mtn bike. It’s a blue Santa Cruz Superlight with the same XTR crank that I have. He is telling me about his adventures at Markham that day, and I was just staring at the crank. I got closer and looked at the screw on the drive side. I interrupted him and said, “ I need to borrow that screw for the race tomorrow”. Before he could say anything else, I said, “Do you have the wrench to take it off”. He looked at me and said, “I don’t, but you can take the whole bike”. 5 points for the goodside. I get excited because now I can ride with no risk of a DNF. We chat more, and I take the bike and I’m off.

I send Bob a text saying that I have Wes’s bike with the XTR crank and we can use his bolts. I’m all hyped up in the car because I can see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel of being in the darkside. I can see things looking better for me to have a good performance.

3 more points for the good side for no reason, but it’s too late. I’ve been taking too far. The transformation from Anakin to Vader is already made. Not the evil Vader that killed the younlings in Episode III, but the Vader that killed the Emperor in Episode 6. I know when I get on the line I’m gonna act the damn donkey on that bike. I’m going to ride like I’m looking at Earl from across the ditch. I’m gonna make the athlete gods “Respect my gangsta”. For all of you out there that don’t have thugs that speak ebonics, that means respect my effort and hardwork. I’m going into the “Reserve” because I have put in a great training block and I want to see a return on that investment. I’m going into the “Reserve” because Wes gave me his bike because he wants to see me do well still. I know he still feels like he had a vested interest in my performance, because without him I would not have been introduced into this sport. I’m going into the “Reserve” because I don’t want Bob’s work that he his going to do putting everything together to go in vain. He is already antsy the morning of a race, and now I’m taking him out of his routine to troubleshoot my shit and hope it works. I’m not going to rob him of his effort by crashing out or getting hurt and quitting. I’m going into the “Reserve”, because I simply want to have a performance that is worthy of remembrance.

So here is the dilemma. I call “The tale of 2 bikes and 3 cranks in pictures.

I have the XTR crank, the broken down bottom bracket and the Rotor Crank.

I have my bike that has no crank

I have Wes’s bike with the bolts and the cap that I need


I put the bikes on the patio, and I have the Felt Carbon FC1 playing security guard.

So, I'm going to take the 24-34-44 oval rings from this crank

And put them on this XTR crank

And use this to hold them in.

After getting my thought organized, I hit the sack, and it’s one of the best nights of sleep I have got this year.

Fast forward hours later, the dog, wife, and 2 bikes are packed and we are at the park. Bob come shortly after and we go right into surgery. I borrow the wrench to take off Wes’s crank from Matt Goforth. We get my XTR crank on, but his cap won’t screw in because somehow it has been cross-threaded. I suggested we just use Wes’s entire crank, egg beater and all. So we took off his middle and granny ring, then tried to put on my 34 teeth oval ring from the rotor crank. It did not fit. The other option was to put on the 33 teeth oval ring that is on my XTR. The potential problem is the chainring has not seen this chain and may skip under a heavy pedal load. But this is our last option before going with the Bontrager. So Bob puts on my oval ring in the middle, and Wes’s regular ring on the granny. I don’t use my big chainring so we left Wes’s regular big chainring on the bike.

Everything went on flush, and Bob told me to take it for a spin to make sure it was working properly. I went out and did some all out surges and tried to make it skip, but it did not skip at all. I came back a couple of minutes later and it was all good. Bob asked for the bike and took it for a spin to give it the “McCarthy”. The guy is anal about his stuff working, so when he came back with nothing to say I knew now the race was up to me. I know I stressed Bob out a little because it’s just not in anyone’s interest to be working on something so imperative less than 2 hours before the race, so I’m going to make something out of this race in honor of that.

I go out and warm up and I feel great. The bike has not had one hiccup, even after I went into a couple of sections and let the legs go. I get back to the tent I’m super motivated and inspired and I know this is going to be a good race. I ride up and Mrs. P is opening a Corona that La La gave her. I told her to not get drunk enough that she can’t get up and give me my bottle, and we all share a laugh.

Robert Bounds comes over to the tent and we chat a little, and I’m totally drolling over the Titus 29er. I think that is my Xmas present, but I better show Mrs. P. I’m worthy of a new rig. Last time I bought a new bike, we got a damn yorkie the next day. Here are some other pre-race pictures.




Dave changed the start because the field was not cut, so we started on the fire road. We were neatly tucked in a section that launches us onto the fire road at an angle, which is a great way to have something pop off before we even get to racing. Bounds showed me a coconut and we both laugh. He read my post about this idea I had about drink coconut water in the race. Just look at my laptimes for Gainesville, and you know that is a load of crap. Note to self: STOP EXPERIMENTING. I’m going with what they do in Rome.

I chat a little with Trent, and he is looking for a good performance also. And I look to my left Luiz M, is looking for a good performance also. I can say that T-Wiz is the guy to beat as he has historically done well at this place. It’s about any race now and we are going to see the T-Wiz from 2004 emerge. On top of that Sean S. and Greg D. that are battling it out for top dawg in our category, so the race drama is everywhere. I got the “Reserve” flowing through me right now like the force, and I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m gonna but a dent in this damn course.

I’m on the left side because I think that everyone is going to get pushed wide, and that is exactly what happens. Todd Hatfield gets the whole shot and he is hammer along the fire road. I’m second but waiting for some major players to come through, and I jump in behind Luiz M. that is following Trent. Tim comes on the left really strong followed by Sean and it’s on. We all pass Hatfield just pass the halfway point on the fireroad, and go into the singletrack and the 6 of us have a nice gap. It’s Tim, Sean, Trent, Luiz, myself and Greg. We hit the cabin loop and Tim hits it hard and pulls through, and Sean drops the hammer. I look down and we are going 25.4mph. Shit, that’s got hurt if you are not drafting, but I think they are trying to make a selection very early. The next group with LaRue, Mark and Nixon almost bridge up to us, and we immediately gap them going back into the singlegtrack.

The pace seems high but I don’t fee like I’m going to snap any time soon. As a matter of fact, my heartrate is 12 beat under my race heartrate. I’m surprise that the entire group has not bridged up to us yet. We keep things going and on the next flat section and Sean pulls through, and Mad Maddox goes for broke and launches off the front. Tim takes up the pace making and in about a couple of minutes we have slowly bridged up to him. I heard some dialogue, but didn’t really get what was said. Sean, Trent and Tim are teammates so I know they have a strategy, or may be they don’t. I didn’t spend any time trying to figure it out. If I stay with the frat pack long enough, the strategy will come to me. When we get to Robinson’s ridge I can tell that Luiz is not riding as strong and I have to encourage him to stay close. Sean is leading it again, and in Volunteer Luiz is getting gapped, and Tim make a really hard surge going into Rocky Mile. I surge pass Luiz and Greg is on my wheel. The entire lap our group was being stalked by Mark. I was thinking he was going to bridge up to us any second, but he just kept dangling off the back like an anchor. Tim took us through Rocky Mile and that was the fastest I have every gone through there.

We come out of Rocky Mile and we hit the fireroad, and Tim pulls through and says something to Trent and he puts down another serious surge. I look down and we are going 23.2mph. I’m safely tucked in 4th place and I grab my bottle as I haven’t had any time to take one sip. We go through the feed zone and look for Mrs. P, and she is freaking sitting down. I come pass her so fast she does not even get a chance to give me my bottle. “See, drinking those damn Corona’s with La La got you forgetting why you here”, is what I’m thinking. I really do smile at it, because it was ironic. I hadn’t even drank from my bottle so I was not feeling like I really needed to drink. But I do know that not getting that bottle is gonna come back on me later.

We go through the start finish, and organize ourselves, and Trent is off the front. Around the cabin loop Sean takes another hard pull and we are moving again and bridge up to Trent. Mark is still hanging off the back and having trouble, or he is just chilling. At some point Trent goes off the front again, and Tim brings him back in and the order is restored. Having 3 teammates riding together is something new because I have never really been in the group to see that dynamic. Tim is doing the pacemaking and he walks away from the group at the halfway point in the 2nd lap. Trent is leading the lap and I’m next, with Sean and Greg after me. Man, those bitches are getting my lines, I know it. OK, time to bring out “Operation Sloppy Line”. I start taking lines I would not normally take, and after awhile I abandon that. I have never been with the group past the first lap this season, so I’m not going to spend any time acting like I better than these guys. I’m just gonna ride my bike and see how this unfolds.

At this point it seems like we have slowed down. Is Trent letting Tim go? I know that Tim has at least 20 seconds on us, and I don’t feel stressed at all, so the pace is slower. In Robinson’s ridge I shout, “There are 2 dirty bitches behind me”. I thought I was suppose to get that lift from you guys, and you guys are back there getting my lines, you 2 ain’t shit. We all chuckle a little, and we are back to racing. At this point I have already exceeded my expectation, and I could care less about them getting my lines. I’m right in the middle of the performance that I have been waiting for. Trent takes us all the way through the entire lap. At the feed zone Mrs P. is there and the exchange is rough. It’s because I don’t like getting the bottle with my right hand.

We go through the start/finish and hit the fireroad. Sean says, “On your left”, and he makes a hard surge on the fireroad, and we go through the singletrack. Greg is gone, and Sean is hitting it hard. I’m not in any trouble, but I wonder how long he is going to keep this up. We hit the fire road and Sean is riding like he has a mission now. He keeps looking back, and Trent is saying, “Look forward”. After a few more second Sean looks back again, and Trent says, “If you look back one more time I’m gonna attack your ass myself”. I laugh, because I don’t why this is happening, but it is minor as Greg has bridged back up to us by the time we hit the fireroad, and he has brought Mark with him. Later, I would find out that he dropped is bottle. We settle back into a reasonable pace and settle in. Somehow Mark got unhitched again. OK, I don’t think he is having a good day. I’m riding so good that I forgot that I need to drink so I grab a drink. I’m also riding so inspired that I also forgot that I’m now well into the 3rd lap and I’m with the front group. I still haven’t taken a pull, and nor should I. Every time we saw Tim, he had put more time on us and it was safe to say he was going to stay away. How he got away so quickly has turned into a race for 2nd, and points chase between Greg and Sean. I’m along because of “The Reserve”.

Sean makes a couple of surges, and I slowly bridge back up to him. He makes another one as we go into Robinson Ridge, and another one in volunteer. These surges aren’t hard, but he is just testing the waters. As we go into Rocky Mile, Trent has slightly fell off the pace and Greg has passed him and is surging to get to us. I think those surges put Trent under, it 3 of us together. We pass a guy just before we go in, and I’m sure that guy is going to hold Greg up a bit. I said, “You may want to go now”. Sean picks it up a bit, but after less than a minutes, Greg is back on us. He has some left in the tank too, so this last lap going to be interested.

We go through the start/finish and I get my last bottle and it’s the 3 of us. I start to feel that tingle I my left hamstring, and I know it’s the curse of missing that bottle on lap 1. We go around the cabin and I know Sean is saving it. I move out of the way and let Greg get on his wheel. I then said, “I asked you 2 for a lift, and I’m gonna get my lift. No dialogue from either one, they are in the 11th hours and neither one of them has broken yet. Sean starts doing surges every chance he gets. He does it in sections that are a little up and down, and then relaxes on the fireroad. Tim is still up the trail from us and he has the race in the bag if he stays upright. All of sudden I can hear Tim cussing, and he is psst off. We ride up on him and I ask what happened? He says “Derailuer”. Man, that really sucks. I know he has been wanting a win for confidence, and it was sad to see him get a mechanical. He rode away on the 2nd lap and with all the surges we still had not bridged back up to him, and his 3rd and 4th lap times were faster than ours. With every surge I feel the tingles get intense, and rounding one bend the left inner thigh almost locks us. I stand up on the bike to try to keep it at bay. Over the next couple of minutes the tingle would turn into a cramp. I’m still riding inspired and somehow I’m able to pedal with the pain. Now Sean is attacking, he is not testing the waters, he is trying to get distance. I feel myself getting weaker, but I’m still able to stay on. I get gapped and Sean and Greg make it up a climb, and I get caught at the bottom as I’m trying to get in before another rider. Having to put a foot down is what put the left thigh in full cramp mode. I run the bike back up, and I have to hop on and just ride the cramp off. I’m surprisingly not gapped by that much, but somehow I can’t bridge.

I know I’m losing power, but going into Robinson’s Ridge they are only 10 seconds ahead of me. I decide to keep it steady and if I can bridge, GREAT. But I was not going to turn myself inside out and ruin this effort by wanting too much. I’m still about 10 seconds out, and not gaining. I go into volunteer and they disappear in that section. When I come onto the fire road Sean has attacked and gapped Greg. I surge to try to see if I can close enough to him to be able to gauge him when I’m in the course. I can’t. This is the section that does me in, and my left leg completely locks up. If I could keep pedaling I could keep the lock-up from happening, but you have to stop pedaling on a lot of those turns and it’s bumpy. I keep pedaling like I’m inspired, but I don’t ride like I’m trying to catch anyone either. At some point, you have to preserve your position, and I’m happy it’s happening in the last 3 minutes of the race.

I hit the fire road and give all I got, cross over to the grass and beat my chest for a job well done and cross the finish line. I chat a little with Greg and Sean after the race and it was nice to hear they had given it all they had also. They are competing for 1st and 2nd, and it was inspiring to see them go back and forth for 4 laps. Greg said his legs cramped up also.

Btw, Bob took his first win of the season and did it in style. I got a quick report, but Ryno, Bob, Robert, Martin, and Kevin stayed together for all 3 laps. In the 4th laps Bob followed Ryan around the cabin and attacked right after the next section, and rode away and put over 25 seconds on the groups. Congrats on the result B. Mac, it was about time for you to shine and to do it in front of your home crowd and family, GANGSTA.

Sean had asked for a mention on the blog, but I wrote his freaking name so much that I’m just gonna give you a pic I took of him.

Don’t let those innocent eyes and smile fool you. This guy is a stone cold singletrack killer on the bike. He does exactly what he needs to do to win, and I have to say I admire him for that. I actually remember Sean from the first season I raced in 2000. I remember him because he finished 3rd at a race with Ryan Trebon finishing second, and when Ryan stepped on the podium, it was like looking a Big foot. But this plug on Sean is actually for his wife. Mrs. Smith, we would love to meet you. I’m sure Sean would love for you to be the one giving him his water bottles. So tell the hospital your man has bought you for the weekend and I’ll see you at the Santos Race. Cheers. Plus, coming to the race gives you a chance to take the 1st place money before he goes to the strip club called, “Booty Butt Cheeks”, and give all his money to them hoodrats. You don't believe he's been there, then check out this clip he sent me.

Here is a post race pic of Lance whispering to me, "About time Bitch, I was starting to not like your ass for wasting my weekend to get your ass dropped.

This photo is my wife saying to me, "I kinda respect you now".

Here are some podium pics I was able to take.
This is the first time I have ever got on the box as an Expert. I'm not sure if I should get used to it.

Here is Tom, the Oleta man as this is his home course, and really needed those 45 points to keep us in the team classification.

One more shout out request. Adam wanted it stated the South Florida riders took all 5 spots for the 40+ Expert. No more shout request punks, I’m not a radio station.

Joe Vietro taking the top spot. Hey V, see you on the line in the Expert category in just a few short weeks.

Here is another pic of his, BIG, STRONG, looking chest.

B Mac enjoying the throne, and I think his season is starting to gain steam as his last 2 performances have been better.


Team Classification
We started out in 3rd in the beginning of the season, and found ourselves in 6th after Alifia. Now, we are 4th place, trailing Bent's A Team by 16 points, and there is some chance for us. They had a Disastrous time at Oleta, and with the make up race at Markhum this weekend, we may be able to over take them and ride inspired to finish top 3 at the end of the season.

Expert Classification
Man, where do I go from here. I can tell you my confidence in the training is souring right now. I had that great block of training, and I'm going to keep the standard the same to the tee. Do I think I'm hot shit? Nope! Me doing well at Oleta was not a result of me knowing the course because I don't ride there. It was me really deciding to dig deep for a good result, instead of being an adrenaline junkie. The test for me will be to do have another good performance at a course like Santos. So the athlete gods are deliberating on what the future will hold from me in 2 weeks. I'm going to have a good result this weekend, because Markhum is my home course.

I do have to thank Wes for giving me his entire bike to fix my problem. I have to give a very warm thanks to Bob for going out of his way in getting my bike operational. I didn’t have one hiccup with the bike. Thanks, guys. I can’t forget the wife. Gotta thank the wife for jetting across the field like a runaway slave to try to get me bottle feed she missed.

I thank you guys for reading also. Can you believe I have time to write this when I work 35 hours a week, taking my final 4 classes to finish my Masters Degree. Oh! And I have to ride my bike, make love to my wife from time to time, study, play Xbox 360, and walk the dog. I can say I’m world class at time management. But I’m gonna keep writing as long as I’m riding, even if I get dropped, or I have a good performance like this one.

Happy Riding

Pacer Out!