Saturday morning, Pete met me over at my place and with Allison, we got ourselves on the road by about 8 a.m.. Which was about an hour too late to do the Cat. 2 race, because I completely forgot about the time-zone difference from Chicago to interior Indiana. I arrived at the race two minutes before the start of the Cat. 2 -- if I hadn't gotten lost in Warsaw, I probably could have made it and had a moment to warm up. I registered instead for the Cat. 3 "sport" race at 2 p.m., which only did one lap of the course, which looking back was a kind of good idea.
As teammates Paul-Brian and Jen came back in from doing the 2, they told me how treacherous the trails were with mud and roots. The critical takeaway notes were to run the rock garden and watch the bridges, which were slick with mud.
Chris and I at the start, ready to bring the awesome. Thanks to Paul-Brian and Jen for the photo.
The start was a loop through the grass with a hairpin to string the field out. We all sprinted off the line like we were in a 'cross race, which at about an hour long, would approximate. I was in third place going into the woods and just felt good. This sensation of feeling confident and at ease on the bike lasted about another five minutes. At the rock garden about a mile in, I disregarded Jen's advice and tried to ride over the stones, which caused my bike to drop its chain. Five riders passed me by right then, including Chris. Then, I tried to get going, but I was in the 44x15 gear or something and was on an uphill -- I couldn't even get the bike to start rolling, so I had to jump off and run it to get some momentum. Then once I got moving, I stalled out a few more times on some small ridges and had to run the bike.
This was not good.
I was stressing out and watched my possible finish on the podium disappear in a sweaty frenzy of grunting and crashing. After about five minutes of awkward, bad riding, I started to get back some rhythm and began making up some time and places. I also ran into some trees with my shoulders, both of which are now heavily bruised, and also flew over the handlebars in a crash.
Little by little, I brought it back. I ended up passing Chris in the last couple of miles, as he'd broken his chain. Like a true Hero, he was running it in to finish with dignity. I managed to come in at a decent 6th place, covered in mud, blood, and bruises. Afterward, we all went to the festival in town and enjoyed pulled pork, ice cream, and other healthy post-race food options.
Sunday, it was a hard ride to Highland Park with Sean with the usual mid-ride espresso. Sunday night, Allison and I went to see Public Image Limited, who are in the States for what is undoubtedly a tour all about the lucre.
PIL, playing "Death Disco" aka "Swan Lake"
PIL put on an amazing, inspired show, which is funny to say considering they've not played together in some 17 years. But, there was Johnny Lydon and a band made up of two former PIL players (former Damned and Slits) playing the classics and with a smile. Dark early blasts such as "Albatross," "Death Disco," and "Religion II" were a mixed with their later post-rock new-wave such as the eponymous "Rise" and "Warrior." Two-plus hours of bass-heavy sound with Lydon showing-off the throat singing skills, Sunday's show was one of the best I've ever seen. I'll stand by that claim.
1 comment:
i hated PIL in 1989 and hate them now. Yuck.
Sounds like a good race! fun times for sure!
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