2011 Willowdale Race report: Where's Dave?

Or more importantly - where's my fork seal? Oh - it's gone! That's why the fork is bottomed out and the race is about to start. Uh-oh. Here's my story:

Setting: Massively jammed start area staging / promoter doing final countdown to our Single Speed race group...
Glen: "DAVE!!! Can I use your other bike to race on?" (nice that Dave rolls in style with multiple steeds)

Dave: "Sure - it's locked to the roof rack, and the keys are hidden. And the seat will have to come down."

Glen: "OK - thanks!"

This is the conversation I had, just seconds prior to the 2011 Weeping Willow race start. With my pathetic, oil-soaked and bottomed out front end, I sprinted the 1/4 mile or so up to the parking area - then over to the car - while the rest of the SS start wave took off, on course. I found the keys to the car / rack, and quickly tried to unlock the Thule upright rack to free my 'plan B race machine'. Insert Thule key into Thule lock and - nothing. Try again. And again. Step down and look through the keys again. Yup - one of them clearly says Thule on it - so I try it again. And again.

Doh!

Still nothing.

Willowdale pre-rides; mud, roots, rocks

Jamie and I had a fun ride last week - where instead waiting for "everyone" sipping on sports drinks, nibbling on treats, and sucking on CamelBack hoses while chit-chatting every 10 feet, checking our various GPS receivers and such - we drilled it for a lap. The wrong way. From the wrong side.

But I digress...

2011 Racer-X Kits

David finally bugged me enough to get this going, and I've taken a very crude crack at making shorts / bibs to match the jersey design.

Glocester A Grind? Not at All! But the Ford Focus is Horrible.

OMG!!!! My white shoes! Someone will pay for this!

Being in a rental car sucks. If you're familiar with my earlier writings as a roadie you'll know I have great disdain for most rentals. I even have a scale I would use to rate rentals based on the worst rental I ever did rent, the Jeep Liberty. This weekends rental, the Ford Focus would get a solid five Jeep Libertys on the scale. It was horrible. My head had to stick out of the sunroof cavity just so I could drive (un)comfortably. Worse still, I have become certifiably addicted to satellite radio and my rental Focus does not have it. How do people listen to regular radio? It's terrible. Terrible. So I downloaded some Josh and Chuck from SYSK and set out this morning for Rhode Island under rain-soaked skies with no radio in a rental made for someone no taller than 5 foot 6. Where was my bike? In the trunk of course all disassembled. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!

Friends: Racer-X Style

Stuff happens on rides. That's just a fact of life.

A "friend" will stop and wait while you fix your bike.

A "good friend" will help, especially if your crank arm falls off into muddy puddle.

A "true friend"... a friend for more than 20 years, will stand by, belly laughing at your misfortune, and taking photos.