Bubba #9

Everything seemed to be in slight excess this past week of thanksgiving: riding more than usual, drinking more than usual, hanging with friends and family more than usual, eating way more than usual, sleeping...well, almost everything.

Last year was my first season racing cross and a return to racing bikes after 10 years of doing other stuff. I had decided to do the cat 3 race for last year's cx state champs after having some success in the Bubba B races. It was a hard, rough race. I remember being totally exhausted after having raced every weekend on virtually no serious training, a new baby at home, and the life of medical school hanging over me during the weeks. I think I ended up in the bottom quarter of the race but still managed to be satisfied with just being out there. After, I told myself that as long as racing bikes stayed fun and within the yin-yang of life that I would return to the same race in 2009 with more experience and training behind me.

Today was the last bubba race of the season. Dark skies loomed in the distant and the threat of another course assembled by the dark, sick minds of CFR, Mason Storm, and others made it hard to get very excited. At least it looked and felt a lot more like a cx race, although at this point in the season sunday afternoons feel, well, I'll let Jack Handy summarize for me: “What is it about a beautiful sunny afternoon, with the birds singing and the wind rustling through the leaves, that makes you want to get drunk?”

Anyway, Butthead was gone today but just about everyone else was there, including Nate Rice, who's a beast to watch on the muddy stuff. After looking around I kind of wished that I could just sit back and watch the race unfold, because it seems like on any given day, the top 10 of the A race receives a pretty serious shuffle. However my predictions at the beginning of the race were 1. Nate 2. Shot 3. Dave or Grman

The whistle sounded and I found myself in the top 10 holding a wheel and barely hanging on to the blistering pace that Dr Mark was setting. That's the way things stayed for the first lap or two. I think I was probably somewhere 5th-8th until sometime during lap 2 I fell. That seemed to set off a chain reaction where 3 more times, I just fell over, for what seemed like no good reason. Oh well. I had a great time, despite the fact that my tires seem to hold mud like no other. Once again, my teamates provided some serious fucking motivation and kept me going strong despite all the bobbles. I think I ended up in 6th or 7th, right where I started!

Cousin Martin had an amazing race today until the mud took him out as well. Dave (STPAF) B. also rode well today along with Jay and Jeff Yielding. Otherwise, it was just about like I had thought with Nate, then Shot, then I think Dr Mark.