Off to the North!

I had already decided that I was going to go up to NC for thanksgiving in the summer, because I had skipped it for at least 18years. What I did not consider was how was I going to work out the logistics of doing the race. My legs were hurting enough for me to take off Monday, but got a great workout in on Tuesday morning because I would be hitting the road at 6pm to drive the 800 miles straight up to my hometown, Wilson, NC.

I got off at 5:45, and Mrs. P and I hit the road as soon as I got home. The problem was it happened to be rush hour if you were going north. So we took the turnpike up to Ft. Pierce and crossed over to 95, then things calmed down. We were averaging about 78mph, so we could pull off the trip in about 11hrs if we keep it moving. It was a challenge having Lance in the car, because he starts moaning when need to hit up a tree or two. In the meantime we play this game on my ipod where they quiz you on your music, artist featured on the song, the year the song was released, and if you can match the album cover with the song. Man, we played that song from Ft. Pierce all the way to GA.

In GA Mrs. P took a nap to secure that she could bring in the last leg if I were to get sleepy. I was doing great with being alert courtesy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the ipod, but I started to get sleepy. So I put in Eddie Murphy, still sleepy. Then I tried Dave Chapelle, still sleepy. Then I changed to music videos, but I was still sleepy. Then I just turned the ipod off and waited for my second wind to come around. Nope, that 2 hours timetrial at 150bpm did me end from the morning, so I woke up Mrs. P with 220 miles to go and she brought it in.

My hometown of Wilson has about 43,000 people and is one of the biggest cities East of Raleigh. Wilson is the “Tobacco Capital” of the world, and that is why the city has a major influx of income every year. It's not a good thing, because the tobacco market is seasonal so most of the city is out of work after that. In the middle of the city are this huge warehouses, and they have tobacco sitting in them. The smell is just as strong with tobacco just like the smell of trash when you pass by a landfill. We have a 24-hr Walmart, and a Target in Wilson. In addition, we have 17 high level hotels. Damn, with only 43,000 people, that is a lot of late night booty calls to fill up those rooms.

I get to my mother’s house and it’s almost 6am. My mother is off on Wednesday so she spends the morning with us and we catch up on things. My mother has 1 acre beside her house and Lance goes absolutely nuts with marking every tree he can find. I know that my only challenge this weekend would be finding food that was worth a damn. I already knew I was going to sell my soul on 2 places I normally eat breakfast at when I visit home. The first one did not disappoint as I made my trip over to Bojangles. This place is Popeye’s meets Waffle House. They have chicken and breakfast food 24hrs. a day. They have a steak and cheese biscuit that I can’t resist, and I have 2 just to make sure I fulfilled my quota. Mrs. P. has even become a fan of it, but she could only get down one.

After my belly would was full, I took a trip over Butterfly, the table tennis company that has sponsored me since 1986. This is a picture of the new building


This is a picture of my office when I worked here in 2006 for 6 months. You can see my laptop, computer, vitamins are still waiting for me.

I go into back of the building to make sure the Brian Pace racket still exist, and it does. Here’s is picture right out of the box

Here is another picture of all the rackets on the display. If you ever go to Sports Authority or Dick’s Sporting Good, go to the indoor recreation area and look for a playa.

After that I talk with the President of the Company, who was also my first coach, and he tries to convince me to come back and work for the company. I’m going out to Las Vegas next month to do all the web updates and sports writing for National Table Tennis Championship, and then Mrs. P and I are going to spend Xmas out there. I may take this job if he lets me do what I want. And what is that? I want to do the same thing that Dave does with Gone Riding. I want to organize table tennis competitions around the country. I’m connected with people in all the major cities in the US so getting a venue would be minor. But I only want to run 5 International Events per year. If we can agree on that in the long run, then I’m going to have to say bye-bye to Broward. We catch up a little bit more, and he is still competitive ass hell. Actually, both of his son’s are number one in the world in golf. They are 11 and 13 years old, and they have been number one in their age groups for the last 3 years. Damn, I wish he would have got me into golf back in 1986.

We say good bye, and then I start seeing how I can get away from the family to hit up the mtn bike trail at the School of the Deaf about 1 mile from my mom's house. Across from the school of the deaf is this trail that they built. It is only about 3.1 miles, but it is really a blast to ride. It’s like going up and down the Cadillac Trail in Tallahassee. The last time I came in 2004 when I was a sport rider, a deaf dude on a old school Klein Attitude put the hammer on me for 5 laps. He didn’t drop me, but he had me wishing he would slow down. After that I found out he built the trail, and has been riding it for 5 years. I was just happy to get out of there without getting dropped, and my ego halfway in tact.

It was around 11am, and everybody was at work. My older brother Reggie is 4 hours a way in Charlotte. He is a truck driver when living in the US, and in between tours in Iraq. When he is not in the US or Iraq, he is in Thailand and calls himself, “ The International Booty Slayer”, as he spends his entire trip out there hunting for women. Man, that dude is shallow. My other brother Phillip is just recently back from Iraq also, and now lives in Columbia S.C., and he is leaving at noon for the 3 hour trip to Wilson. Great! I have a window to get to the trail and hope my boy is out there to put it on me again. I start getting my things ready and my mom gets all snotty. I explain that Reggie and Phil are on the way, so I’m going to work off the steak and cheese biscuits. She calms down and I get my things ready and hit the trail

The trail is so close that I don't bother driving, I just ride over. When I get there I was reminded that it was autumn when I saw all the leaves. The leaves were everywhere, and it was thick at about 4-5 inches. It was so much that I was not sure if I could correctly follow the singletrack. That meant I couldn’t see the roots at all, and they had a bunch of them. Not enough to go over the bars, but surely enough to seriously through you off the trail. I decided to go in and do an easy lap to find any lines and my mode. If you have ever really rode in the autumn, then colorful leaves are good if you have to ride on any. They are leaves that won’t move. Brown leaves are bad, as they have completely died and they turn into “Brown Ice”. You don’t want to round a bend if there is brown ice down, as you can easily be picking yourself out of the dirt.

The leaves are colorful and safe and I’m able to find the lines. Surprisingly, the course was in very good shape. I’m sure not a lot of people ride mtn bike in this city, so I won’t have to worry about traffic but I was looking for my boy from 2004.

A great thing about NC, is when it rain, the trails are closed for 24-48 hrs. That is a great way to keep the erosion from happening so fast. I can see the singletrack, but I’m reluctant to let it rip until I know the entire lap. The first lap was a 23 minute lap, and that around the same speed as my best lap in 2004. I know I’m gonna smash that time when I get the lap down cold. “Where you at playa”, I say aloud, referring to dude that put me in the pain locker in 2004. The second lap I decided to just ride, and ended up with a 21 minute lap, and the third was 20 minute lap. Because it’s 65 degrees I’m not thirsty, and it made it easy to do the first 3 laps back to back. I got back to the trailhead, and drank from one of the bottle I dropped there. I went back in and did 2 more 20 minute laps, and called it a day. I felt good about the workout, and had already decided that I was going to really hit it hard tomorrow. I think I need about one ride to get used to riding to aggressively on those leaves.

Rode one leaf infested singletrack, rode them all.


I get back home, shower up, take a nap, and everyone starts getting off of work or into town. My sister is first with her loud mouth, and quickly reminds my wife that she married a many with a huge right ear. I say, “Damn, it’s nice to be home”, as I gave her a hug. Then Reggie calls my mom and lets her know he parked about 1 block away, and we all go over to meet him. He has lost 30lbs since I saw him in September when he dropped off a load in Miame before the 6-hrs of Santos. About 1 hour later, Phillip comes in with his wife Sabrian, two kids Sabonia and Messiah, and 7 month old pit bull that is 60lbs. His name is King, and he can eat Lance. He is strong, and equally as friendly. I’m not a fan of a dog that is capable of doing such harm, but this is the 3rd pit bull that my brother has owned that is friendly. My mom cooks a southern playalistic fatty dinner, but Mrs. P and I settle for salad at chick-fil-a. With all the siblings home the only thing we have in common at this point is debating. We first argue about the War, and of course I’m anti-war and one brother is for, and one brother is against. Then next was “Who created life”, and if that person does exist, who created him”. We stayed on that for about 1 hour, and it started out on the scientific “Big Bang Theory”, then it went biblical, then back to scientific. When we were burnt out on that, we went in the backyard to my mother's barn to play some pool, and I watched everyone get there drink on.


I convinced the non-drinkers to do something more productive, so we packed up the Jetta, and went to see Beowulf which was just out of sight. I read the book when I lived in Romania, and they strayed from it big time. It was good, and had potential to be a smash hit like Lord of the Rings, but that can only happen with Peter Jackson at the helm. From there we all turn in for the night.

The next morning I’m pumped about riding, because I’m gonna smash that course today, and my mother is cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The last couple of years my mom couldn’t get off from the hospital, and my sisters’s cooking is well below subpar. In fact, Mrs. P. would only consider the trip if my mother was cooking. At 8:30 it was 52 degree, frost on the ground, and cold. I decide to wait until it gets closer to 60 degree, so I surf the internet,check mail, and watch music videos. I keep looking at the weatherbug showing the temperature, and it slowly ticks up, 53, 53, 54, 55, and then 56. At 10am I decided to ride as I think that I won’t see 60 degrees until it’s time to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

I get back to the trail, and I pick up right where I left off. I do 3 laps and they were all 20 minutes, give or take a few seconds. I felt more comfortable riding in the leaves, and I also started to get a real feel for where the hot and cold spots where in the trail. I soon started taken advantage of all the place where I could steal a couple of extra pedal strokes here, or a couple of second there. I stopped at the trailhead and topped off the stomach with fluids and decide to let it rip for the last 3 three laps. I had the trail down packed, I felt inspired, and the legs were primed and feeling good. The 4th lap I came in around 19:21, which was over 1 min 10 second faster the other 20 mins laps, so I really hit it hard going into the 5th lap, and I knew it was going to be much faster because I was way ahead on all check points. I came in at 18:54, and I tried to keep that same speed up, but the legs were not having it. I had went a little too far into the lactic acid account and got hit with a NSF as I was slower on every check point, but came out with a 19:10. I can’t remember the last time I had rode such a short course, and enjoyed it so much. The thrill of riding a new course was just too much resist trying to conquer it.

I had ridden for over 2 hours and the workout was a perfect effort considering I had Santos in a couple of days. I know the real place that you can drop someone at Santos is in John Brown, because that place is anaerobic, and technical. I had just did 12 laps in 2 days, and all of it was like John Brown, so I really started to get some confidence in another good performance. I still had no real agenda in the race, but after Markham’s bold move to try to shake things up by riding off the front, I decided to go back and, “Fit in, where I get in”. I ride around and try to time the ride to get to 2hrs and 30 mins, and I come in at 2:28. By the time I get home the yard is flooding with cars and I got the 2 older brothers challenging me to a race on somebody’s piece of crap $250.00 Trek that is in the yard. Reggie is explaining that if I not crawling up to the house, then I haven’t had a real workout. Then Phillip starts asking about the special shoes, and all this fancy equipment I use, and that real athletes like the Greek Gods didn’t need special equipment. I sigh, then walk up to the Trek, hold the front tire with my knees, and turn the handle bar 90 degrees. I look at both of my brothers and say, “You have a kickstand on that shit”, and walk in the house. Everyone on the porch exploded into laughter.

Thanksgiving dinner was good and I was forbidden to take pics as it was starting to annoy. The family conversation was equally as entertaining as the night before. I ate really lean in having turkey breast, stuffing, mac and cheese, and homemade sweet potato pie. Here some pics of the fam.

Here is a pic of my mom's house, which is where Mrs. P. practically demands we stay everytime we visit

Here is a pick of my brother wife Sabrina, my niece Messiah, and you know the other 2

This a picture of my sister's house. She has lived within a 2 mile radius of my mother for 25 years. Whenever one moves, the other one soon follow. I have not idea what it is about.

This is my sister's boyfriend, whom I like to call "Frederick Douglas". You know based on that hairstyle, he was one of the leaders of the underground railroad.

This is a picture of me and my favorite niece, Lyric.

The family movie tonight was “Hitman”, and it was straight out of the video game. If you have every played the video, then he had the walk, talk, facial expressions down to a tee. We came back home and I had more turkey and stuffing. Mrs. P. and I couldn’t sleep so we watched “Cheaters”, and that show never gets boring. We hit the sack, and I got a special ride planned for Friday.

I wake up with a smile on my face as I have practically had a great workout every single day in the month of November and the races performances to prove it. I decide to take a trip 45 minutes West out to Raleigh to go and ride at main trail I rode when I lived here in 2006. There are a lot of places to ride in Raleigh, and the only place I got a real good feel for was the course in Garner. Most of the courses have so many section and they all run forward and and backwards and make is challenge to ride out and back.

It's really a very unassuming place

This pretty much assures that I won't see much dirt.

The problem was is it was 32 degrees when I got there, and it was going to be really tough to put in a promising effort. I got to the course, and I was the only person out there. I knew this course would have more leaves than the course at home because there were way more trees.

I get into the course and the leaves are twice as much as I have been riding on, and this course is much more aggressive since it has a lot of off camber section. I lose a bunch of drive to ride because I truly can't find the singletrack. I ride for about 10 minutes, then decided to pack it up after riding on this.



As soon as I got back to the car, someone drives up in a jeep. I start looking in the back, and I see that he has a bike. It always weird when you are waiting for a person to get out of the car to chat with them about getting a ride in. I introduce myself, and ask if I can tag along because I haven't rode the course in a while and I can't find the lines. His name is Gabe, and he said, "Sure, if you don't mind the slow pace". I was just happy to be getting in a workout. He pulls out a Marin hardtail, and a has a old school Manitou fork. "Wow", that shit is vintage.

We go into the course and he knows the lines very well. He is actually very uncomfortable with the leaves. He is riding in and out of sections totally different than how I did it, and after about 12mins he needs to take a break. I look down and my heartrate and it was 112bpm. Damn, I'm not even getting a fat burning effort in. Well, better than sitting at home watching everybody sleep. We get going after about 5 minutes, and we finish out he entire lap without stopping.

We go in for the second lap, and about half way through the lap it feel like my shock is bottoming out everytime I hit a bump. Gabe needs to take another break, and I see oil on the left tube and I know that the shock is blown. I finish out the lap, and decide that it's time to pack it up. I get back in the car and it's still cold. Look

I get back home and everyone is still sleep, so I take trip over to my other guilty pleasure. I know I haven't deserve this or burnt enough calories to do eat it, but I'm not in Broward. I'll worry getting back on track when I get home.

I have eaten at this place since I was a child, and decided to take it back to the old school.

I know it's greasy and fatty, but I'm not in the mood to search out buying salad stuff this early in the morning. Man, this shit can clog an artery.

I quickly realize that my chance to race on Sunday are none. I have a busted shock, and I do have a Reba at home. But I was planning on driving straight to Santos on Saturday, then doing the race Sunday. Driving all the way back home to try to pick it up, get it put on, adjusted, etc, would just be too much. So before I get home I know that my I won't do the race. I was a little bit bummed because I really want to see how I would perform at Santos. Now, I'll never know.

When Mrs. P. woke up she asked how the ride was, and I said really cold and slow. Then I told her about my bike, and that we would just stay in Wilson another day and enjoy the family.

And that is what we did. We spent Saturday relaxing, and at night my sister had a cookout a her house. On Sunday we packed up the car and left at 10am, and got in at 10:30pm because of some serious traffic jams in South Carolina, and Georgia.

This week has been a average week of training on the road bike, but no mtn biking yet. I"m getting my fork looked at, and if my mechanic can get it tuned up, then I'm gonna hit the race this weekend with the intent of staying close to from group of Experts. What is not for certain is if the 19-29 class will be combined with the 30+ class. My guess is that the 19-29 class won't show because they don't get anything out of it, as Markham was the make-up race. If that is the case, then Bob is probably going to go right off the front. He hasn't had a day when he rode off the front since the spring of 06, so I'm sure he won't be taking any prisoners or wanting anyone on his wheel if it's just the locals racing. I'm doing a race because there is race in town, and I'd like to take advantage of this good form. I'm pulling the plug on my season as I have final exams too close to the race and really need to be in the books. Congrats to all the top finishers, and special mention Tom and Eli who really did it big this season and were the heavy hitters that kept us in contention of the Team Standing. One more menttion to B&J for leaping to the front of the Team Classification, as noone saw that coming.

If I don't get a chance to see you on the trials or road, have a great Xmas and happy New Year

Pacer Out!

Coconut Cup - Markham/FSC Make up Race

After the strong performance at Oleta, I decided to go with the same training program for the Markham race. The temperature was much cooler and made for a very good week of training on the mtn and road bike.

After reflecting on the race at Oleta I understood that I was at a disadvantage in having Tim, Trent, and Sean together because they are on the team and they can really take advantage of the group. I was so new at riding in the front group, that I was honestly not watching the team dynamics unfold. Now, that I have replayed it many times in my head I decided to make sure that I shake things up if my form would allow me for Markham.

On Tuesday morning I went out to Markham and did course how it was set up for the last race we did in March, which was the Hospice 100. I was not really sure if he could run it much different than that without things getting discombobulated. (Damn, that word is complicated). I did 3 laps, and they all were promising laps as the power was good on all three laps. Man, I remember at the end of June when I was as the end of my road racing campaign, and I was just crawling up the climbs at Markham with my legs screaming. Now, I’m ripping up the climbs effortlessly. When I finished that lap, I knew that I would have another good race. How good? I’m not sure. I know that Mark G has performed really well at this course. Tim is the king of Markhum for the 30+ Experts. Sean and Greg are going to ride well just because they are in this serious love affair for the State Championship. Me? I’m this dude that is coming into his form and Markham just happens to be his home course.

Another added variable was Dave was still unsure if he was going to combine the Pro, 19-29 with the 30-39 Experts. Having all of us together can get confusing because we really aren’t racing with them. That means we would all be watching the 30+ Experts that are scattered in with the 19-29 Experts. That will be way more stressful, if someone is in the way when a move is made. Plus, once the FSC Season is over and we continue with the Coconut Cup, most of the racers outside of the South Florida won’t be in attendance. So I was not sure how it was going to unfold, but I would prefer we all start together. In 2004 we had Quietwaters in the FSC, and South Florida smashed it taking almost all spots on the podium in every category. In 2005 we lost Quietwaters due to the Hurricane damage. So we were back to Oleta, but that is not the definitive course for South Florida mtn biking, it’s Markham! And we had been lobbying for a race at Markham, so I was actually happy that the make-up race for the FSC was at Markhum. They would get a chance to truly ride on the course that we are comfortable with, even if it was tamed down.

On Thursday it looked like it was race day as all the top Experts from South Florida were out there. I jumped into a lap with Tim and Joe V, and we put in a really good effort. After that lap was when I found out that the lap would be something like what we have never seen. When Oscar and Adam were explaining it to me, I almost couldn’t believe how ambitious it sounded. Of course everything they talked of was in our favor, but it was the first time that so much of the course was put into the race. And, most of the very challenging sections were added. I decided I would come back out on Friday and do an extremely easy ride so I can get an extra night of sleep at having the jumpstart on the course. I went in and did another lap with Henry and Tim, then called it day.

I went home and decided to give the legs the “Polar Express”, and bought three 20lbs bags of ice. I had road harder than normal, and I wanted to make sure that the legs were very fresh and not stale. I have to say this is a really, really, really, painful 10 ten minutes. This will most likely be my last time I do this, as it is just so painful, but it is beneficial. Plus, Mrs. P gets a real kick out of seeing me suffer. If you haven’t tried it, it’s at least worth a shot. It looks like this before the pain starts.

The next day I get out of work, and drive over to Markham to put in 2 easy laps. Dave W. and Dave Berger and all the other volunteers were out putting down the tape. I get the first hand scoop on all the sections they are putting in. The conflict came at the gun range (also named: Rattlesnake Canyon). They were having a debate, and asked my opinion. They were thinking of starting on the fireroad on the southside then cutting in at the halfway point, but at some point the course would crisscross. When I heard that, I said I was not in favor of anything that would have the riders cross each other. At some point you are going to have 2 riders that are hard charging and neither one of them are going to stop. Plus, I’m almost for sure that it’s against NORBA rules to have the course do that. Then they said they were going to cut across before Fred’s Folley. I finished up the lap and called it day.

I still had this crank problem, and I still had Wes’s Santa Cruz on my patio. He sent me a text saying I could keep it as long as I wanted to, and boy I’m grateful for that. The next morning I went over to Bob’s shop to put back on my Rotor Crank, and he found out what the problem was. The tube that goes into the bottom of the bike was a little too small, and that is were the play came from. So, I went back home, put back on Wes’s XTR crank, stopped by W. Broward Bike shop to have them screw in the bolt, and I was off to Markham. As soon as I got there, Adam and Oscar explained that the course was different than before. They put in Rock Garden, Armadillo backward, and all of the freaking Gun Range. Wow! There must have been some really rough negotiations to get all the difficult section in the race, BRAVO! Now that course has real fangs, 4 laps of that is gonna set you back like a big dawg if you aren’t from here. If you are a local, then you are just jumping for joy. If you are not a local you are not going to like those 3 sections, especially the gun range. It’s difficult, sketchy, technical, dangerous, and anaerobic.

I chatted a bit with Tim, Trent and the single track killer Sean. Tim really wanted for our group to be separated from the young class. I actually wanted the race to be a little discombobulated (Just looking for another chance to use that word). I know he was disappointed about his mechanical last week, and this was his last chance to win a race hands down. So the 30+ Experts racing along was the easy way for those 3 guys to control the action. I would have to give this more thought. I got my riding gear ready and went in with Henry, and Jimbo. It was so much traffic that it was very hard to get a good feel for the course at all. Then at the halfway point we practically came to a complete stop as we rode up on a group of 10 riders trying to navigate Red Rock. I decided to wait a little while before doing my next lap, because I wanted the traffic to die down. About 45 minutes later I went in and got a real feel for the lap, and I was able to get it to flow.

After I got home, I was really inspired about how the course was set up and I started brainstorming. At Oleta I was happy to be able to stay at the group, but I don’t even like that course. I love Markham, so I decided to get a little more ambitious about the race. Then, I thought about how I wanted the race to go down if I could control things. I know that I didn’t want to wait for Tim & Company to set us up, so I want to break that up a bit. It was only one way to do it, and it was to get off the front and put some pressure on the group and hope to shake things up.

I also had decided to change up my meal set-up for Markham. I was reading the blog of Danielle Musto, and if you like my blog at all, then you are going to absolutely love hers. She was talking about this book called Endurance Athlete’s Guide to Success and I found some excerpts on the web. What I did accidentally at Oleta was I ate at 8:30, which turned out to be the right thing. The books states to eat 3 hrs before your race, and I had been eating 90 minutes before my competition my entire career. So for this race I decide to get up at 6:15, and hit up the Waffle House for South Western Omelette, with OJ.

I then spent some time with one of the Biologist at my university to get some real answers about hydration and muscle cramping. I wanted to see what it would be like to hear the information from a purely scientific standpoint. I didn’t want to find out from another Expert what works for them, I wanted an unbiased opinion. Plus, last time I check there are no Expert riders that are Scientist. Professor C. explained that getting any muscle cramping is a result of being depleted of oxygen. The first and foremost reason to be depleted would be because you have not drank enough water, or you are dehydrated already. The next one was new to me, and the other reason that your muscles cramp up is the body can’t deliver oxygen to the deepest tissue of the muscles under a very heavy workload. Wow! We all can say that it has happened, but to hear it that way shined new light on it for me. We all have cramped up, backed off, and it went away. At that heavy workload the body can’t deliver oxygen to that certain part of the muscle tissue, and that is why that particular section cramps up. I can say if I do a really hard road ride, that my left calf may cramp up, but not my quads or hamstrings. It’s not because I’m dehydrated, it’s because at that intensity my body can’t deliver oxygen to the calf efficiently. He explained that side stitches (cramps in the rib cage) in runners is so prevalent, because the oxygen deliver system my not reach the deepest of tissue in the mid section when running at a high speed. He also explained that ingesting (as he put it) gu’s or gels don’t help with hydration at all. That will help with prolonging your ability to maintain power. He also stated that if you had 3 meals the day before, then taking in 110 calories of gels per lap won’t do much good. He thinks that gu’s and gels are a trend that the companies have made up. I’m not sure about that, but I did walk away more enlightened.

I get a really good night’s sleep, and I wake up 10 minutes before the alarm went off and I was up and off to
Waffle House on Griffin Road. There were no customers so I got my omelette in less than 5 minutes. I was back home before 7am, so I laid in the bed and listened to my playlist on my ipod for the race. That’s right I said it, “ipod”. I do listen to my ipod as I have pinned the headphones to my helmet straps and they sit just below my cheeks bones, so “ I got tunes”. I showed it to Dave, so I’m go to GO. I made the second half of my playlist more inspiration since I would need it. By the time I get to “ The Final Countdown”, I’ll be in my last lap. That is followed by the main them songs to Last of the Mohican, Man in the Iron Mask, The Last Samurai, and Batman Returns. I know you had figured me for a gangsta rapper. Nope! Wrong black dude.

I’m feeling so hype and ready to race that I decided to ride over to the park since it’s only 4.5 miles from the house and would give a fantastic warm-up. Mrs. P. would be making a stop at Starbucks, so I could get to the park before her and find a place to park. We both leave at the same time, and when I get to the entrance I roll up like I’m a car, pull out my money, and explain to the guy that I’m paying for a VW Jetta. He points and says, “That one?” Yeap and Damn I said. I need to think of a way to stall her. I then say, “OK, buddy, she has a yorkie in the car. So tell her if the yorkie is less than 1 yr old, then you have to check it for contamination, and I ride off. I look back and say, “Don’t let her go until I have crested that first hill, and I hit it. It works, and they manage to stall her. About 1 minute later she rolls up behind me, and rolls down the window. She says, “So I’ll dog as a freaking contamination. I should run you off the road”. We look at each other and share a laugh. We then park the car and chat a little. She has the most white, pop itunes playlist known to man on her playlist and I want to kill myself when she plays her song. I told her, if I here, “Too little, Too late” one more damn time I’m gonna eat her ipod myself. She says, “Your gonna need some fiber to push that out”. We both laugh, and I say, “Nice comeback”.

I ride over to Bob’s tent to get my shifting dialed in, since it’s a little slow to drop down into the last gear. I was not that concerned with it as I normally don’t use that gear, but he got it halfway operation for a quick fix. I ride around the warm-up loop and realize that the last turn to come back Wes is really sketchy, so I make a note to take it easy turning onto the fireroad. I then go into the rock garden, then up the dump to the end of armadillo. I finish out that section and it’s 9:25, and I had a good flush going so I’m ready. I get to the staging area and Dave is making a decision on if he is going to combine the categories. It’s quick, and decides to split us up. I’m more neutral, but Tim is delighted.

I go over to the starting line, and my thoughts are discombobulated (See, I can use that). Actually, I never get nervous, but I have a little bit of anxiety. I’m about to sell myself out on if I should go off the front. This course has fangs, and if I do too much, I’m going to really pay for it later. So I start thinking about my options. Should I sit it? Should I find a wheel? Should I go off the front? LaRue rides up next to me, and we chat a little as I’m still brainstorming and a little spaced out. I’m half listening to him, and when he says, “If I get to the Rock Garden before you, I’ll get through there pretty quickly”. I come right out of my daze and look at him. I was thinking, “That is not going happen”, but I just shook my head. Now that I know that he has thoughts of going in first, my plan is clear. I’ll be getting in before him, hoping that he will not hold the pace. If I gap the group, then I’m gonna gun it. In the matter of 15 seconds, my race tactics all came into place and I relaxed.

The 19-29 class totally got thrown off guard on the start. He said, are you ready? Then he immediately blew the whistle. He gave no countdown from 30 seconds, or 10 seconds. They actually went off the line looking at each other trying to figure out if it was real. They soon got into place, and started racing by the time they got to the fence. He gave us the 2 min warning, 1min, 30sec, then 10 sec, then the whistle. I roll off the front looking for a wheel. Sean gets the wholeshot followed by LaRue, Luiz M, and myself. We are going at a good clip, and noone is eager to make a move. About 200 meters from the Rock Garden I see LaRue move out of the paceline, “There’s the move”, and I look behind me and Tim is already moving out. I take off and pass everyone and gap them. I go into the Rock Garden first and I can see a Red/Black uniform behind me so I know Tim made his move stick also.

I was riding at a good clip, but not throwing it down and I had a gap. I exit the rock garden and hit the fireroad and I have at least 10 seconds on the group. I keep it going at the pace that I don’t think is all out, but I didn’t back off. I look back and they are clustered together like a school of fish. I drop into Armadillo and I get a nice flow going. I was happy to be in the section by myself because I was more than 1 bend ahead of them because the sections are tight. I have no anxiety about getting held up by anyone, so I just ride. I exit and turn left to the new section (washing machine), and by the time I drop into Alligator Alley I have extended that lead to 15 seconds. I keep it nice and steady the entire time, and after the sharp left turn out of the alley, I actually gun it. I wanted to get out of sight since they were letting me sit out there. I was not hammering, and I think they were waiting for me come back to them. I gun it all the way to Bermuda Triangle. When I come out of that section I can’t see them as I’m about to go into all the by-passes. I do the by-pass for Jet Ski Hill, and at the by-pass for Crime Scene and I lock up the rear brake as I make the turn while I’m sliding. Made it! Then I look up too early, and I hit a patch of sand that throws me off the bike. Shit! I jump back on and try to pedal, but my chain had dropped. I was about to get off, then I shifted to the big chain ring, and the chain caught the middle chainring and I shifted it back to keep it there and I took off. I went into Outback and when I made the left turn up the climb I could hear them rallying through the single track. When I crossed over Outback to go to the gunrange I gunned it again. I looked back and they were still tightly together like a frog’s bootyhole. Shit! Man, someone need to break that up. I think Tim wants the race, so the guys are content with seeing if he can bridge up to me.

I go into the gunrange really inspired, and I wanted to put some really pressure since I was feeling good. If I get a big enough gap, then this would be the section that where the discombobulating may began. I kept my heartrate and effort steady throughout the entire section, and I had gapped them even more as I took the fireroad back. I looked back and Trent and Sean were on the front. If they were on the front, that means they were going to hard charge it to catch me. With it being so much fireroad all the way back, I was bound to get caught if they worked together. So I kept is steady and by the time I got to the warm-up loop, Trent and Sean had bridged up to me. I actually shut it down and kept it steady once we went it, because I felt like they were going to break up the group. I come out of the warm-up loop and get my bottle and I go through the start/finish and I pull through. Trent and Sean surged and when they got through the fence they hit it. Ok, here’s the move and I jump on
Sean’s wheel as they charge it. Trent pulls through just around the Sean takes up the pace making, or sprinting. I look back and everyone is being spread down the fireroad in a scene of color destruction. That is what I was hoping for, to get things broken up and let every man fend for himself. I see Mark and Greg bridging up to us, and Tim is way back. I can tell the pace has been lifted bigtime and when I look down and my heartrate is 178bpm, I know that it is going down right now. My avg heartrate for the first lap was 167bpm, so I knew I was not going to even try to stay on this pace.

So I let them go as soon as we enter the Rock Garden. My mission was accomplish, and that was to shake things up, and there was no T-Wiz in sight, so the front group has lost one of the soldiers, or they left him behind. That means whatever plan they had before had been trumped by what they had put into motion right now. I’m up the fireroad to armadillo and I have a little bit of a gap on Mark and Greg. I want to let them by, because I know Greg is going for Sean, and Mark is good at his course. But I make a mistake at the steps and have to put a foot down, and Greg and Mark have to put a foot down also. We go down and round the bend to do the huge cement climb, and when I come around I see Greg laying on his freaking back. There is a rock that you have to navigate through and he must have hit it. I felt bad, because I know that I messed up his mode. That’s racing, and I’ll apologize to him after the race.

Now, I have Mark in front of me and he his charging it too. Damn! This shit has really hitting the propeller as everyone is riding like they want it. I’m putting myself under pressure trying to stay with him, and I can tell I’m over-reaching. So going into Outback I let him go, and it was smart on my part. Now, I know what it feels like before I blow. I could have stayed with him the rest of the lap, but I would have gave that back and more afterwards. I go into the gunrange and keep it smooth, and since I know every line in that place I almost lose track of things as it was so effortless. I gun it on the fireroad and keep it steady all the way back to the warm-up loop. Just before I get to the dump I see Trent pushing is bike with the front wheel in the air, and it’s tacoed. I kinda of get a second wind as I’m now in 3rd place. I didn’t ask for a free position courtesy of a crash out, but I’ll take it. I ride the warm-up loop with a little bit more enthusiasm. I get my second bottle and when I go through the fence Tim is going through the start/finish.

“There he is!” When I normally see Tim coming, that means I’m about to get caught and dropped. It happened in Tallahassee, Reddick, and Gainesville. The only thing I had going was I was at Markham, so I was going to put up a fight. I was out in nomans land by myself and I found my mode, and kept the pedals moving forward. Normally, I lose my ability to pedal and focus, but today, “I’m in it”. I can tell I’m a little bit slower, but I have not lost any power yet. I come out of the gun range and I can see Greg charging up to me. If he catches me by the end of the lap, I’ll see if I can sit on his wheel. He does catch me and he is hard charging it also. Shit! What is the deal with everyone hard charging it? If he is riding this hard, then why didn’t he catch me sooner. I would find out later from Tim that he a crashed hard in the gun range on the second lap, and that was the reason for the hold up. He goes into the warm-up loop and he immediately has me under pressure. I had just spent the last 45 minutes riding my speed, and he is riding about 5% faster as my heartrate goes up 10bpm again. I get my last bottle, and when Greg goes through the start finish he stands up and sprints out of the grass. Ouch, is what I thought if I were to even try that right now. Plus, no Tim in sight at this point, so I was able to hold him off for this lap. I then try to bridge up to Greg, but the legs are not in the mood, then I feel that tingle. That is the tingle to let me know that my minutes are numbered until something locks up. Shit! Let him go, hit the fluids in the bottle and finish out your lap. It’s time to ride smart now. I get into the rock garden and Greg has not seriously gapped me, but I’m reluctant to bridge up to him. This is also the point that there is a lot of traffic on the course. He is not 10 seconds ahead of me, but if I bury myself to sit on, I’m going to turn this tingle into a monster, so I keep it going. I’m losing power at this point, and before I finish Bermuda Triangle, Tim as almost completely bridge up to me. Shit! I’m caught, so I shut it down and decided if I can withstand the onslaught he is going to throw down in the gun range, then I may be able to outsprint him at the end.

I do all the by-passes and go into Outback, and Tim has not bridged up to me yet. What the hell? He should have caught me by now. The tingle has turned into a cramp that I could ride with, but I was apprehensive about ripping any climbs. As I as exiting Outback I see Tim and he says, “I almost had you”. I would found out later that he crashed on the by-pass to Crime Scene and that gave me at least another 15 seconds, but it wouldn’t mean anything as I know I was losing power That should have inspired me but the legs were hurting now. I go into the gun range to see if I can hold my 15 seconds, and if I can, I’m going to bury myself to stay away. By the time I got to the halfway point of the gun range Tim has almost completely bridged, so I let him pass me on the big climb after the U-turn point. “It’s going down to a sprint if he doesn’t drop me”, was the thoughts that were in my head then. Tim kept is steady, and he did not charge any climbs at all. When we came out of the gun range he slowed down, and I thought he was giving the legs a rest for the end, so I decided that was a good idea. We actually road and chatted, looked back to make sure noone was coming. Then I hear the “Final Countdown” playing on my ipod, and at this point I was counting down the minutes for this damn thing to be over.

Tim had already figured that we were out of the money, and may be that was why he slowed down. He kept saying his legs were hurting, then he said, “Whew”. Was he baiting me to charge it? Hell No that is not happening, as I was in survivor mode. At some point we all shut it down emotionally, and try to get out of there with what we have. We go into Red Rock and up the dump and down to the warm-up loop. On the fireroad Tim says, “Let’s split the money, if there is any”, and I immediately take the offer. Now, we are racing for points. The cramping is gone and I’m feeling like I can take him on a sprint, but that last turn is so loose and he might gap me coming out of there. Well, in the warm-up loop Tim suggested we come in together, and I took that offer also. Man, I’ll take any offer at this point. Anything that would prevent me from killing myself is cooler than a fan to me.

So we come out of the section and all they guys are expecting us to go for it, and at some point we both act like we were going to get out of the saddle and sprint, but quickly sit down. We cruise in and I pat him on the back for being a true sportsman. Most people would still compete for glory, and with both of us out of the money it was really no reason to act the donkey. I did ask him for the 4th place points since we were still trailing Bent’s A Team. Sorry MotoTrace, I still had hope at this time.

“The Killer” Sean took the top spot on our race again, with Mark coming in second. Greg recovered from 2 crashes to take the 3rd spot, and Tim and I came in 4th and a half each. I was happy with my performance and even happier that I was able to go to the front and animate the race a little. I’m getting more comfortable with racing in the front group. I’m going to totally abandon that aggressiveness for Santos, and get back to riding on the back of the bus. My true agenda is over at this point. That was to find my form, and I’m assuming if I keep the same routine I can compete about the same for the remainder of the season.

It really is a blast to still hear how many people actually read and enjoy my blog. I’m shocked to hear people say something to me that I put on the blog, because I can’t believe they remember the details enough to rehash them with me. I was talking with the wife, and I’m shocked that everyone doesn’t have a blog. I was thinking that my blog is popular because I’m one of the few in Florida that has one. My wife said your blog is popular for the same reason I married you. “Oh, because I’m sexy like Denzel. Oh! Ok! I get it now”. She laughs and says, “You’re actually a clown like Will Smith, but it’s because you are transparent”. You have nothing to hide, and anyone can tell that the moment they first meet you. You have no problem stripping yourself down just because. Most people must have a reason for doing it, and you do it for fun. I can tell that almost every rider that is around us are holding back, you can see it in their eyes. You don’t hold back, and that is why it’s entertaining to read you blog, or be around you. Damn, girl, “ I said”. You know I don’t need my ego stroked, but if that is what it is like, then ain’t nobody telling you to stop. I guess I internalize everything, and I was still trying to wrap my head around it. I’m going to lobby for all racers and riders to get a blog. I would love to read YOUR perspective when you are out there on the singletrack, so “Bloggers Unite!?

Team Classification
It looks like we might be out of our run at 3rd place. We had one rider break and chain, and the other rider quit so that pretty much ends our run at trying to make get that 3rd spot on the podium. I’m going to still ride as hard and as inspired as I have been riding, because we have had a great season as a team and I want to finish in that fashion.

Expert Classification
I was looking for another good performance and I got it. So for Santos I’m just going to ride my bike as fast as I can. On Tuesday, I’m leaving for NC to spend Thanksgiving with the family. From, 1986 to 2004 I never spent 1 thanksgiving with the family as I was at the biggest International Table Tennis competition in the world every year. So when I retired I vowed to my mother I would come home from now on. But, I didn’t tell her that I would spend the entire weekend in my hometown of 43,000. I’m concerned about not being able to control myself around all this Southern food, because I lose my perspective on food every time I go home.

Plus, I’m gonna ride with a group on the mtn bike on Thursday and Friday to keep the legs up. I’m not sure how the body is going to like 30 degree weather right now, so I may just hit up a fitness club and find a spin bike if it’s too cold. On Saturday we are coming back South, and I hope that transition from warm to cold, back to warm does not make my body act funny.

I didn’t get many pics from the race, but here is what I got.

Have a great Thanksgiving! Cheers and see you on Sunday.

Pacer

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!