10 August, 2005
| An old race report. Few, if any of you bothered to show..... Seems the combination of the weather and the proximity to Thanksgiving kept the field small. Haha. You'd already seen enough of your family for the weekend and the weather was perfect for riding. Anyway, the race got off to a blistering pace, with Travis ordering a pitcher of margaritas. Not to be outdone, the latecomer Zeke, ordered a pitcher as well. Mike happened to be on the recieving end of the liquor, much to his pleasure. Finally Eric arrived with a Guinness, and Zeke, not to be outdone, counter attacked with a Guinness of his own. Just as it looked as if Zeke was taking control of the race, Travis snuck in for another round as Zeke readied his mount. This left us with Travis and Zeke tied for the lead, followed closely by Mike, with Eric a bit further back. Brian left round one with no points. Then, in an incredible show of self restraint, The flow of alcohol stopped and the race moved outside and onto our race ready steeds. The race readiness would not last as Eric unleashed a topedo at the unsuspecting Travis. The bikes collided, but Travis was able to keep his composure and stayed upright. The ensuing melee reminded me much of the battle scenes in Top Gun, with the riders battling for superiority. Carelessly, Mike left his bike unattended on the ground, and it recieved a terrible beating at the hands of Eric, Travis and Brian for his trouble. The wise and thoughtful Zeke smartly kept his bike out of harms way until we departed. With his display of courage in the parking lot, Travis took a slight lead over Zeke, and Eric closed right in behind. Brian put some numbers on the board, but was unable to come to terms with Mike, who had a poor showing in the second round. The standing were as followed: Travis, Zeke, Eric, Mike and Brian. Finally, the five of us departed the Guac. We were sad. Up until now, no one had been on the ground. That would soon change... To be continued... I look to my left, a rider flies over his bars, twisting to and fro as he plummets to the ground below. Ouch. Nice one, Zeke. The others ride in circles, seemingly unconcerned about the condtion of their fallen comrade. Once it is apparent he is OK, we finally get around to checking on him. Prognosis: dropped chain. Easily fixed and we are on our way again. We dive into the drainage ditch, carving the turns and avoiding the pot holes. As we approach the end, Travis falls trying to get out. Mike and Eric are close behind and plow into him, leaving a tangled mess of man and machine, with Travis at the bottom lying in a puddle of sewer juice. We all struggle to get out, our cleats providing little traction on the steep, slick concrete. All but Brian score well on round three, leaving the standing the same, but Brian falling further behind. The final round. It will take a miracle for Brian to pull through, but the rest are all close in points. Any one of them could come out of this as the champion. The race starts, and it soon becomes clear that it is a race for second. Eric has set a blistering pace, leaving the others fighting for scraps. With Eric out of sight, the rest decide it is better to stop the others from finishing rather than push too hard. It starts with a runaway bike down a steep hill. Mike is able to move at the last minute, but Travis took it square on the bars. The projectile was thrown into the woods leaving Brian to fetch it. The remainder of the three laps was an absolute war zone, complete with dogfights, ambush, bike theft and sabotage. How anyone came out alive and with their bike in once piece is beyond me. Eric took top points in the final round. He was able to get out ahead of the rest, and as a result, wasn't victimized by the rest. A fierce battle for second saw Mike just pip Brian to the line, with Zeke a minute back. Sadly, Travis was unable to finish the race. When asked later, he replied, "Anyone can finish. It takes real courage to quit." This hurt his point total, taking away a podium finish. The points from all four rounds are totalled. Brian, with a poor showing in rounds one and three finished dead last. Travis gave up a good showing with his amazing display of courage in round four, ending in fourth place overall. Zeke had a good showing in the final round and was able to overhall Travis into third overall. With his fantastic second place in the final round, Mike jumped two places to second overall. Never far behind in the first three rounds Eric put on an incredible display of riding prowess to make the jump into first place. Congratulations, Eric. We made our way back to the Guac, but were unwilling to pay the cover charge. The awards presentation took place on a makeshift podium outside. |
# posted by Frank Tuesday @ 17:39 
