A Birthday To Remember-Blind Date at the Dairy #4

Last Wednesday (10/19) was the 4^th Blind Date. We had a great showing of Mongers including our studly crew from the Men’s Beginners, Jamie and Tim, our Men’s C consisted of myself (Bill), Terry, Sean (no need to mention these two have “Mastered” Cat C’s, right???). Now, one thing about cross is you have to be careful how you place in your races. Many of us like to place as low as we can but if you ride too well the folks from OBRA recognize this and you’ll soon receive an email stating that you are basically too good for your current Cat(egory) and will been bumped up to the next level. This is what happened to Nick. He got a note last week with the instructions that he’s been pushed out of Cat C’s and moved into Cat B’s. Congratulations Nick! (dare we call him a sandbagger???)

The course was dry had a share of ruts that were formed from last week’s race in the rain. The Beginner Men had a great ride that endured 30 minutes. Jamie’s spinning class is paying off and he had his best finish of the year. The sun had set by the time us C’s took the course and darkness soon fell upon us. I remember looking at the bikes next to me in the start line and the majority all had lights; damn, wish I thought of that beforehand. The gun went off and I tried to pull the old Hammer Heddy from the gate but quickly noticed there was a 13 yr old ahead of me, I'll call him Kyle Jr. Now there were a few lights setup on the course but for the most part it was pitch. You could tell where the course was set and you had to trust there wasn’t anything in your way. This was the first time I’ve ridden in the darkness and it was a bit terrifying, I mean, exciting. I think Terry mentioned that your eyes would adjust in the dark, yeah, not quite sure about that. I mentioned in a previous email that I was going to get into better cardio shape…well, I guess I’m not there yet. Despite another flat tire Sean had a great race. On the positive side TC nor I had any mechanical issues this time around either. Oh, and I did catch up to the 13 yr old, he was the only one I passed.

Moving on to Men’s Bs. These guys haul arse. Their starts out the gate are extremely fast and using brakes is completely frowned upon. This was Nick’s 2^nd Cat B race and it just so happened to be his birthday. Sean and I were cheering Nick on as he blazed by riding towards Dairy Town. There were a pack of riders he was amongst and this pack quickly emerged from town but there was no sign of Nick. Several minutes later birthday boy came around the corner by himself, but things just didn't look right. As he got closer I noticed something on this face and it wasn’t mud. As he flew by I heard him tell us that he “ate $ht” on the pavement. Nick took a nasty spill while ripping through the course and his face took the brunt of his fall. Is his pretty mug a thing of the past? A little fall might have slowed Nick down but it certainly didn't stop him from continuing. Nick carried on 5 more laps and powered through the pain. After the race I went to see if he was ok and found him in the medical tent being treated for his road rash, ouch:

The next and final Blind Date is Wednesday the 25^th. Come on out to participate. It is a great way to ease into Cyclocross (is there such a thing?) for the races are only 30 minutes long. If you don’t want to race come on out to cheer on fellow BeerMongers, it’s always encouraging have fans. http://www.crossseries.com/schedule.html