More short track, some Southern Cross, and my nail expenses

I know I probably shouldn't be able to drag a short track race report out to two separate posts, but some Monday reflection has drawn me to a higher, yet self serving purpose. I tried to figure out just how Noel "The Killa Thrilla Gorilla" Kirila ended up coming around from behind me and only finishing one place ahead of me. In the first race he managed to pull off a stunning third place, so what was he doing slumming back in the dregs with me?

I closely examined the starting line photo...

and found this:

That's Noel "The Killa Thrilla Gorilla" Kirila facing the wrong way right before the start of our race. Notice the look of confusion on the faces of series leaders Luke and Tim? Notice that fellow Bicycles East rider Dave Elliston is standing there smiling, but not letting Noel "The Killa Thrilla Gorilla" Kirila know that he's going the wrong way? Way to go Dave. We single speeders look out for each other, but in the wrong way.

I also realized that while Noel "The Killa Thrilla Gorilla" Kirila, Bruce Stauffer, and I were playing reindeer games back in 6th, 7th, and 8th we missed a chance to work together to pull anybody else back. I feel largely responsible for such silliness since I was "testing out" different places to attack... that is until I fell over. Watching the expert class race after ours and reflecting on it, I can now see that much energy was spent dicking around and not working together. Whatever. It was fun. Experts don't know how to have fun. They just like to win and get the girls.

The 38X19 gear selection was quite a revelation.



Sorry, too much Iron Maiden while in Arizona has caused me to associate everything in life to a Maiden song.

The gear worked much better than planned, and it will stay on for the next two weeks until the next event on the schedule for the "season."

I'm in a quandary regarding Southern Cross. Do I take it slightly seriously, or do I treat it as I did SSAZ? I know just about as much about this course as I did the one in AZ. I have no plan, no intentions, and no idea how long it's going to take to finish. I do know I'm probably going to have to work all day that Friday, get off at 5:00pm, hop into rush hour traffic, fight my way out of NC, drive into some remote location in Georgia by myself in the dark, and then get a good night's sleep?

Whatever.

I'm still in "good time" mode until the Six Hours of Warrior Creek, so I think I'm gonna have to go into this slightly under prepared just to keep with the theme.

I don't normally promote crap I'm personally selling, but this thing won't go away. Two auctions, two second offers, and multiple reserve modifications later I'm still sitting on this.

My Phil Wood, double fixed, 135mm spaced, bolt on wheel with a Stan's rim. I have no purpose for this wheel anymore, and as sweet as it is, I want it gone. It's on eBay right now with 2 days 11hrs to go as of 7:30am today. It was expensive. It will sell for nowhere near what it cost me originally. Buy it. Pay for my gas to Georgia or my exorbitant manicure expenses.