Monday, June 18, 2007

Superbowl weekend!! Nez and Nevada City rule who gives a crap about football?.

I love Tour du Nez & Nevada City



What great bike racing weekend!!!! These are in my opinion the two best bike races in N CA/NV and I'm happy they are on the same weekend. They have so much history, difficulty, classy fields, and the people watching...oh my god! A very special thanks to the promoters Tim & Duane to attract a world class field, crowds and put on a first class event. I can't wait for next year!!!

First off I'm really proud of them Proman chicks. Tracey, Kelly and Nicky got busy all day at Folsom on Sat and came up with the "V" as a team. Then again at Nevada city with a 1, 2, & 5th in the always tough women's race. It was Shelly who soloed with confidence to the line for another "V" for Proman.
I'm really proud of Tracey finishing NC, cuz that bugger puts the hurt on a sprinters legs, its a huge accomplishment for a climber to finish and more so for a fast twicher. Maybe it was the inspiration of me flashing my gun rack and bare chest that helped ease the pain for a brief moment.

We agreed to do some his and her racing Folsom for her & Nez for me. Since Tracey takes the warm-up thing serious and I was driving--- Sat am we got up when it was dark and headed to Folsom and got there two hours early, not much for me to do but I did have a chance to clean out the fingernails and kettle chips from my car mats while she warmed up so it was a productive morning.
After we escaped from Folsom we packed up the grocery getter and we made a mad dash to Tour du Nez for my first Master race since Santa Cruz. The girl missed the podium ceremony at Folsom for me - a sacrifice..sorry baby - but I forgot to pre reg and it was going to be a little tight on time. We made it no problemo.

It was a top notch Masters field at Nez, Dave was singing on the microphone, chicks and dudes fat and skinny were hanging on the rocks and swimin in the river. Due to weekly wine walk in Reno there were a few drunkards to dodge in the crosswalks which kept things interesting when your going 30 mph. We ended up with a group of 12 almost lapping the field, I got across on Nolan's wheel then he decided to get skinny in search for a $50.00 prime and fit his 36 six inch thighs thru a hole made for 15 inches. He miss judged and body tackled both a hay bail and body checked former Olympian Copland (StrawBerry). They stayed upright thankfully...but then Nolan went down twice in the laps to come..not sure what was going on...to much pressure in the pneus??? Rumors are he was running at 140psi..? Please note, tire pressure more then 110 on a technical crit course not recommended.

Any way Buckeye and I rode a good race, we were a bit out legged and numbered on the last lapper roo, but it was fun and there were so many beers to drink and had fun watching the Columbian's National team tear up the Pro field. I bet if they knew about Nevada City, that would have made things interesting.

Nevada City
I'm not sorry to have missed the fireworks in the 35 & 45z Masters race, as the duo of Tazando looked smooth as glass as they stomped away from the field. Metcalf and Bubba...shit they had great rides too. I saw Phipps stacked into the hay bails and he took out Pasco. It looked like Pasco took the brunt of the fall on the chin as he spit it open. That guy is tough, I had to beg him to go ice it and clean it up as he wanted to chat while the blood was dripping on the ground.
Phipps meanwhile got back in the race, he looked like the straw man from the wizard of Oz with the hay sticking out of his helmet. Angerman also had his ass hanging out for the world to see when he tried to ditch the baggers on the corner. Well, he did hand out a bit of ass in a different way at Nez.

I was happy, very happy to finish Pro 12 race with some of the top riders in the US. Just good prep for big fish to fry in a couple of weeks. I'm so in search of stars and bars for the TT at the Nationals..then on to worlds. I really did appreciate the cheers from Tracey, Briggs and his Berries, Safewaaz, and everyone else that felt sorry for the old bag of bones. I didn't make the suffering any easier, but made me suck it up and get over that climb every lap.

Gracias,

3 comments:

Chico Cyclist said...

Great job out there!! We saw you flash your woman during her race, and we were all in hysterics! That was great!!!! Those Pro guys just put the hammer down - that La Grange guy - Rios - was trying like crazy to get away from Moninger and Cruz on the hill.....but just couldn't do it. Fun to watch though.

Anonymous said...

Do a wise build-up to Natz. and Worlds, I know you know how, and I think you can collect all kinds of stripes!
-rp (not Robert Parker) ;-)

veloandvino said...

Dont 'report me for the flashing only a girlfriend could love.

Gotta give it up for Not over the hill Overend!.

Heal up for the upcoming weeks RP. I'm going for it.