This has got to be the coolest event I have ever done. Tom S. and crew put on an incredible event. They even went out w/ mist-ers between events to keep the dust down. First class. This is the same venue used for the Ronde weekend's crit...but you'd hardly know it. The start/finish is in the same place, but the flow of the course reversed...and the S/F is the only time we're on the road. The rest takes place on the "infield" of the Ronde crit.

Ok, now to racing. Lesse...Mike Fee took 3rd in the C's (sandbaaaa-ger:-), Brian Birch 4th in the 55+ (hmmmm, maybe just a bit too young?), Isiah Rapko 2nd (...and another maillot rouge...series leader for the french disinclined), Fred Martin 4th 45+B's (a class KP/TO has dominated for 3yrs now) on a bum knee, and THE MELBE-NATOR (uh Melbe for short) took 4th in the women's A's (rock on sistah!). I hope I didn't miss any podiums.

OK, now on to the main event of the evening (it was under the lights and fuily dark by 7pm, so I'm totally justified in saying evening...main event is purely my own point of view...shared with at least 3 teammates;-p).

45+A's.....

We had Dave (flap) Libby, Thomas (Thomas) Hoeffel, Jon (not Jimbei) Suzki, and Me (ummm TC). Lesse, no call ups (bummer) I started about 3rd from the back...and moved up to 4th or 5th by the first corner. Note: seems like time for a course description . As I mention at the top this is the same venue as the Ronde Crit. We start on the road at the Crit S/F facing the other direction...bang a hard left over the sandbagged curb after 100m, and on to the dirt. Somewhat bummpy since some...person (see I wanted to say F****ing Mor*n in and SU-F'ing Vee...but didn't) did donut in the middle at some wetter/muddy point in the past few weeks. Granted the course could've used a good two day dousing of rain, but it was still incredibly fast. Laps in the Master's A's were 4:20 for the winners and 4:40 for me at 19th. Any how, my start sucked, but I kept passing guys on the first few laps. I settled into a top 15 slot about mid way (we did 10 laps...maybe 4th or 5th...who knows). Attention: whiny moment coming up... I WISH I could get through at least one race where I don't hurt my back, or have a mechanical...or bake a corner...or otherwise be stupid. In this case about 7 laps in I dumped my chain on the little steep ride up...immediately hit the deck...5 or 6 guys pass me, and I spend the last 3 laps trying to get my composure back. The back starts to complain as I take two to go...and get passed 1/2 a lap later by the 35+A leaders...FRACK a lap down again. Any how...Dave was 14th, Thomas 15th, me in 19th and Jon in 23rd all @1. However all only < 3 minutes down on the winner. BTW - somewhere in the race I snagged a dollar prime and did a wicked table top off the BMX kicker right after snugging the $1 under my shorts leg.

I lined up 10 minutes later for the SingleSpeed A's (ummm why??? Beer hand ups) ... OUCH. Deep in the pain cave from about 45 seconds in. Never did get the beer hand up (yes I AM going to piss AND moan about this until I get my beer hand ups in the SS races! ), and bailed-for-a-beer w/ 5 laps to go (or my 18th race lap!) ....can't brag though. Morgan doubled up and finished the SS (w/ 8 laps), and George did the B's and SS's (16th), so clearly I'm a wuss...or just needed a freakin' beer hand up! I vote for the latter.

About the "Compound"...need some better participation here...only the diso ball, one string of lights, and the karoke machine showed up. Sorry but the tent, while seriously visited and hung-out at, was clearly under flaired. Commmmme on T.O. Let's get it t'getha'!

signed -
T C (who's butt doesn't look fat this week...see Christina's pic for details)