The year was 2002 and the place was Charlotte, N.C.. It was halftime of the Continental Tire Bowl and WVU was losing pretty badly to Virginia. Just as I tried to relax and enjoy my halftime beer the University of Virginia "Pep Band" took the field. They then preceded to do a imitation of what they thought folks from WV were like. Oh course the women had no shoes and were pregnant and you know the rest. The WVU fans at the game where shocked by the display. There actions where so offencive the U of VA "pep band" was disbanded by the school a few weeks later.
:::Flash forward to this past weekend:::
Saturday I found myself at a Super 8 hotel just off campus of the University of Virginia and needless to say I wanted to give the finger to every student I saw at first. What can I say.. I grew up in Morgantown and that silly school was a big part of my life growing up. However I was not in Virginia for revenge. I was in Charlottesville for round #5 of the MABRA series. The race was called Urban cross because unlike most event it pretty much took place right downtown.
My first race was at 9am so the wake up call at the hotel came pretty damn early, 7 am to be exact. After a bite to eat it was over to the race course. I jumped on my new cross bike for a few warm up laps. I got a kick in the nuts from the course right away. The uphills were pretty darn steep and I had all kinds of trouble riding them. I was also amazed by all the concrete pipes and metal scaffolding that lined the starting straight away. The course also went off a few side walks and on a ridged cross bike that really hurt the joints.
At 9 I found myself on the start line along with some sunshine and warming temperature. The grass however was still a little slick from the morning dew and could be trouble on thin cross tires. The start was fast and I was kinda unprepared and I quickly found myself near the back of the field. I was working hard trying to keep up and pushing a little faster then I should have on the downhills. Bad idea, I paid for it in the wet grass. I found myself falling on the ground and my knee went straight into the ground with 250 pounds behind it. The pain went shooting up my leg but I jumped back on the bike to continue. After a few turns of the cranks however I lost the will. My knee hurt the field was gone and I was not happy.
I pulled off the course and Gina asked if I was OK. I was fine but the knee was a little tender. I had also signed up for the Master race which was in an hour an still was unsure if I could do it. I grabbed my jacket and some water and went out for a short ride to check out the knee. After about twenty minute I decided I could do it. The Masters class is much faster then the Cat 4 race even though I was more prepared for the fast start I however once again quickly found myself near the back. After the first race disaster I was going to try and make a better show of things. However I total had issues with the climbs and the race became a suffer fest for me. I did however finish the second race and even made the news in Charlottesville in the process. Don't blink or you will miss me! I was happy to have made up for the first race even if I didn't finish all that well. On a side not the first thing I did today was to change the gearing on my cross bike. NO MORE HILL ISSUES!
After my race the rest of the team was ready to do battle. Gunnar, Chris and Betsy all crushed, but if you want to know more of what happen then your have to go to the Team Bi-atch Blog. After the race we headed into town searching for cougars for Chris, burritos for me, and Poe's dorm room for gunnar. Betsy and Gina where just happy with what ever we did. Thanks ladies. We found my burrito and we even found Poe's dorm room. While we peeked through the glass into the room a student walked by. I am not sure how the conversion start but she stopped to give us some history about the school, the campus and Poe's room. My mental imagine of Virgina students started to change some what. The conversion lasted a few minutes and I even learned a few thing myself. Wish I had gotten her name, cause I would have made her world famous in my blog. Not everything was perfect that evening however. NO cougars we found for Chris. Next time!
After all the excitement It was time for the long drive home. Three and a half hours later I found myself pulling into Davis and was welcomed by snow flurries.
1 comment:
It's Gina...no picture of AnniBug in her little coat I made her wear?
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