Bike Gangsta's Paradise

First off, I must apologize to my frequent readers. I am sorry that I am not as quick as some of my Bike Racing Blogger counterparts with the race reports. I usually am traveling all night on Sundays to make it to work on Monday mornings. My mornings consist of hoisting my spent body out of bed, figuring out where I am, and somehow getting a cup of coffee and some clothes on in order to make it to work on time. Anything beyond that is unthinkable...so updating on Monday morning is just not possible.
This weekend was round #1 of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series in Fontana, CA. Think Southern California, smog, Inland Empire, California Speedway, endless industrial parks, urban jungle, and home to the Hells Angels. All of this became abundantly clear as I rode my bike from the hotel to the venue. I was like a fish out of water. Everyone was looking at me funny as I was dressed in my lycra superhero costume rolling through miles of industrial warehouses south of I-10. Like they have never seen a bike racer (a mountain biker none the less) in their hood...I mean jeeez...come on...I'm TOTALLY normal.
I plugged the numbers into a logarithmic equation and decided that it would be most cost effective to fly down rather than drive based on the cost of gas, distance, time, and the moon alignment on mars. Besides, the venue was a mere 6 miles from Ontario International Airport. If only gas were this inexpensive...(that's 49 cents)

Once I got a couple of laps in on the course on Friday, Cinco de Mayo...It dawned on me that this was no destination resort race like Aspen or Deer Valley. We were really riding through a city park, some back yards, a deserted industrial complex turned Hobo Village, a flood basin and a new housing development. Somewhere in there we actually rode through some desert type hills with a couple of trees. I am not sure if they were fake trees or not, but they made for some nice shade. I am just glad to be racing my bike.

For dinner, a bunch of Knuckleheads from Trek invited some of us to an Italian Dinner...great Carbo loading opportunity I'm thinking. It ended up being Olive Garden at Ontario Mills Mall. The comedy was that while we waited, we watched a Christian Rap and skate Expo. At first I was a bit nervous as here we were, a bunch of skinny, predominantly white country bumkins walking into a rap concert, IN the Inland Empire. Once I got a read on the crowd, I was back at ease...no violence here. I didn't have to throw down and bring out the guns...

Saturday, race day, Mathieu Toulouse from Maxxis told me that he got food poisoning from the "authentic burrito" that he had in celebration the night before. Bummer to race sick like that. The race started out at a good clip, but not outrageously fast as it can be sometimes. I was unfortunate to get caught behind a pileup in the first corner and went from top 30 to last 5 of the record field size of 100. I had a lot of work to do, which meant taking a lot of calculated risks to move up. I did what had to be done to move up. The part that made me most nervous was while on the first lap of the race, I was passing a group of people and as I swung out of the draft, I was going head on with a gang of "Thugs In Training" wielding GUNS. (Okay, so they were paintball guns). When you're going hypoxic, you have a tough time making that sort of distinction. It freaked me out...Needless to say, I didn't make the pass...

Later in the race we encountered them in a mock battle in the HoboVillage. While I never encountered any hostilities, Jeremiah Bishop claims to have been struck on the ankle by insurgent stray fire. The report has been unconfirmed.
Nathan (my brother) drove over from the LBC to watch me on Sunday in the Hurricane of Pain. He couldn't really see much (nor could I). Imagine throwing a bag of fine, dry dirt into a blender on max speed without the top on and that will give you an idea as to what it looked like from my perspective. I am still coughing up dirt almost 24 hours later. We hit Chevy's before I hopped on my flight home. That's one thing I am going to miss when I am done, is my mobility and ability to see so many friends and family all around the continent.

Luckily, Jason Sager didn't discover this skate park or he might have missed out on his first top 10 finish in a NORBA National on Sunday. Congrats SEGA.

I ran into Cowboy. His booth was right next to the Luna truck. He hooked me up with another sweet pair of Fuzzy Duds. Last week, at Bogg's, he was out on course cheering me on and was surprised that in the heat of the battle I could not only recognize him, but give him a shout out at the same time. Thanks for the goods Cowboy.

Sunday night I realized while my legs were screaming at me while standing in line waiting for the "B" line cattle call on Southwest, I am one lucky person to experience life like this. Monday is just another day at work, but after experiences like this, it is hard to stop smiling...even though it is just another Monday.

Enjoy YOUR ride...