I'm so sorry Jen. Jane described you as, "leaving a trail of smiles everywhere she goes." They're a trail of tears right now, but you have a world of love around you that will make sure you smile again.
We love you Quadzilla.
So Gustov turned into a big fat nothing for those of us who respond to environmental disasters. Lots of wind and rain and power outages that will take up to 4 months to restore so FEMA is busy, but not us. So I get to stay local and.......ready my lame as for cyclocross season!!!
I did my first race in 2 years this Labor Day and had a shit eating grin for all 35ish minutes of the singlespeed race. I raced yee ole Fat Chance that I did quite well on in 2005, but 10# later it's a little tougher to get that steel rig around. Regardless, I had a blast and smirked for all three laps as the bell on my handlebars "tingtingting-ed" over every grassy bump and tree root and annoyed the living crap out of the other racers (mwhahahaha). The race course was fantastic, really long with lots of fun singletrack, a little pavement, and that bloody sandpit taken from the top instead of the bottom - so much for practicing my line from the bottom. I made it through anyway powered by sheer stubbornness.
My teammates RULE. At one of the woodsy runups, all I wanted to do was walk up, but from the bottom I could hear Ed at the top bellowing through the forest, "GO JILLYBEEEEEEE!!!" It made me laugh even harder and realize I had to give them a show and dig into that stupid hillside and get my ass up. Thanks so much for the encouragement, y'all.
No surprise, I ended up DFL in singlespeed against all the wily, fast men, but I did come in first woman! Ha! My new Ridley should be coming in soon so its gears and I will race Cat 4 in an effort to upgrade to 3 this season. Singlespeed will be by special appearance only. Like the SSCXWC08 in Portland with Sharon! More beer! (Aye, but should I really be on the same registration list as all those Elites? The universe really isn't supposed to work like that.)
Next stop, Counterbalance's CopperCross next Sunday back at Seatac!
