Sunday I raced the second annual
DCCX. How could I not? The venue was the Armed Forces Retirement Home, a mere 5 miles from my house. I decided not to worry with a pit bike or extra wheels and rolled out the door with Sonja (on her road bike) in plenty of time to catch the men’s ¾ race. On the way there I must have picked-up some glass in the rear tubie because after a couple of warm-up laps on the course, I realized my tire was almost flat. Thinking it was a slow leak I pumped it up to 60 psi and hoped for the best.
After the master’s elite race, I again rode a few laps on the course, and again realized my rear tire was low, now at about 20 psi. I rushed over to the Fuji van where Sonja and I had stashed our backpacks (thanks again, Tracy) and found Ronnie. I was just going to pump my tire up but Ronnie, being the superhero that he is, actually took the time to remove the valve core, pour some sealant in the tire, and pump it back up. As Ronnie is doing all this, Sonja rushes by and says they are staging the women and can I hold them until she’s ready. You see, Sonja rode some laps of the course with me ON HER ROAD BIKE and had decided to race. She was actually going to race her road bike, but Auer offered his pit bike so she was looking for his shoes.
Being the last 2 riders to the start put us in the back, but I didn’t mind. I’m a notoriously bad starter, and since these MABRA Elite races are more like training races for me in the since that I struggle to not be last, I don’t want to get in anyone’s way at the start. It was cool to see a couple of new faces on the line… Lorena the Stormin’ Mormon decided to try her hand at cross, and Kristina has stepped-up from the B’s to try her hand in the A’s.
As the gun went off I actually surprised myself by finding my pedal immediately and being able to sprint up the pavement climb. It was one of my best starts, even though I was still towards the back I was not on the back (read LAST PLACE). After a few twists and turns, the pack was starting to string out and I was behind the Stormin’ Mormon when Kristina passed me. As we approached the tree barriers, I made my move and passed Lorena, Kristina, and apparently Sonja, but there was a gap in front of me to the next group of riders, which included Harlow, Terri, Libby, Kristine, and maybe one other (can’t really remember).
As I passed the pit I heard the shouts of the C3 crew to catch that group. I normally don’t race that aggressive in these MABRA races, but something about those guys in the pit made me put my head down and give it my all. I eventually caught the tailend of the group, but right at is was about to shatter. Mel went out with a rolled tubie, Harlow went out with a crash, Terri attacked off the front, Libby, being Libby just rode us off her wheel and I found myself with Kristine. She asked if I wanted to work together, and that sounded good to me. We took turns on the front, basically just having a good time until we realized that we were closing in on 7th place. I looked up and saw Terri and commented to Kristine that “7th is right in front of us. Let’s go get her.” At this point, I’m just thrilled that I’m not in last place so I was willing to take some very hard pulls on the flatter roadie type sections to try and launch Kristine up to Terri. And it almost worked, we just ran out of laps, darn it! Honestly, I don’t know where they got the finish times from because all 3 of us had to be within 10 seconds of each other.
I have to say, this is the most fun I’ve ever had in a race. It was awesome working with Kristine and following her lines and speed in the technical sections. I hope she told her friends that were cheering for her that I was not just sitting on her wheel. Every time we came thru this one section they would shout “Don’t just pull her around all day!” I made her promise to tell them I was pulling on the back side of the course.
As for Sonja, I don't remember passing her the first time, but I distinctly remember the second time. Coming up the short little popper of a hill right before the finish I looked ahead only to see Sonja trackstanding at the top. Apparently she was having some issues with Kris' saddle and spent the entire race standing up. Now, I use some narrow saddles on my bikes... so narrow that Sonja has taken to calling me "Snake Hips" but Auer's... I swear they are smaller than mine and she just couldn't take it anymore, especially after a particularly bad misdirected remount. For the record, I think she would have kicked ass on her road bike.
Now that you've made it thru my lonnnnnggg race report, here are some pictures of hot men.
Russ "The Muscle" Langley scored a 5th. It'd be great to see what he could do if he could manage to stay on his bike!
Wes wins again! 
Mike explains the day's drills to us.
We worked on bunny-hopping. Here, Mitch displays how to pinch flat your rear tire. (Thankfully, she did not actually flat.)
Plain Jane and Mitch post-clinic.
Di (need a nickname) post-clinic. Besides Sonja, she's the only other person on the team w/o mental issues, and Sonja is debatable.
The road from the Ranch down to the valley was icy in places. Some people chose to walk.
Others, like the BadA$$ (Plain Jane) pictured here, decided to ride.
That's me and Robin in the back. Here we are probably discussing something very important, like what's for lunch or badgers.
Jay and Leslie on the front.
Leslie and her beaver. And that's Eric. He's probably thinking about his next tub.
I don't feel like writing a race report at the moment but know that my reader (Dad) will like the photos. Just a few details.
Here I am on the "barriers."
Here is Mike on the same barriers. Notice the downed barrier behind him? No PVC pipe barriers were harmed in my midst. The same cannot be said for Mike.
After cross practice, we met up with Wendy, Leslie, and Robin for a ride in Howard County.
Don't trust Wendy when she says "Just 5 more hills." I counted 7.
Upon our return to DC we snatched the Black Dog and went for a nice walk in Congressional Cemetery, or "the graveyard" as Sonja likes to call it. FYI, my granny referred to them as boneyards.
The Black Dog, aka Best Dog Ever...
Currently I am watching Obama on 60 minutes and getting ready to watch the Skins demolish the Cowbows. Again, life is good!
Monkey.
The course this year was very similar to last year's with the exception of the addition of the "heckle hut" with it's barriers and beer kegs. The course maintained it's flow with all the twists and turns and transitions from pavement to gravel to grass to sand. Racers still had to contend with the "ghetto barrier" and the sand pit of doom, but the sand this year was ridable for the most part.
Coming into the set of uphill barriers, Kathrine (Pippy Longstocking) took a wide line so I cut on the inside and made the pass and was now in the lead. This concerned me a bit because I thought it was too soon. I remember last year leading the first lap only to be passed by Kristy in the sand pit and never seeing her again. Besides, I had gone out hard and needed some recovery. At this point, coming up to the line, I sat up ever so slightly and was passed by Katrina. She yelled at me to "come on" but she seriously passed me so fast I could not grab her wheel. As we entered the sand pit I tried to see who was behind me and things were looking good. I was even making some ground up on Katrina but then I bobbled the second turn in the sand pit by running into a C-man that had crashed. Back on the bike I could see Katrina ahead and decided to let her go. She's super-strong and the only chance I had to beat her would be in the technical sections or maybe the fact that she's new to cross and may have misjudged her effort and would tire. Either way, getting beaten by Katrina would be ok. She's too nice.
But sometimes bad things happen to nice people. Coming around the bend approaching the log barrier I saw Katrina get off her bike. I slowed and asked her what happened. She broke her chain. Catastrophic bike failure. Now I was in the lead again by default, but trying to keep up with Katrina had give me a good gap to second so I just couldn't worry about blowing up. I had to go. I rode the rest of the race as fast as I could which in hindsight was pretty stupid. I'm surprised I did not crash myself out of the race. Faticus kept telling me to ride smooth because I must have looked like a maniac out there. In the end I was able to hold the gap and scored my first MAC win.
Pictured: Heidi, Amanda, Erin, Christina, Sonja. Missing from photo: Doron
Do my shoe covers make my feet look like little elf feet?
Does these shorts make my butt look big?
Russ "The Muscle" Langley scored a 5th. It'd be great to see what he could do if he could manage to stay on his bike!
Wes wins again! 
Sonja and I have had a dog the last couple of weeks, be it the Best Dog Ever (Maya), Tickhead (Rena), or White Dog (Azucar). Currently, we have no dog and I really miss it. Maybe it's time I go to Petfinder and get one?
The long Metro ride home after my chain broke.
Eating (and drinking) at Cafe 8, on Eight Street SE.
