East (Coast Rocks) Bound and Down

Guess I gotta say something before dipping out for a week of mountain bike cycle sport stage racing at the Trans-Sylvania Epic.

"Something."

Up until this past Monday, I was gonna race in the 50+ category with the only goal being to beat some other quinquagenarians... mostly while riding a single speed... but mebbe pulling out the Epic EVO for one or two days for shits and giggles.  Then I looked at the fields and noticed that the single speeders only had seven (eight listed but I know one is a DNS) and a way-packed top-of-the-field.  The 50+ class had almost thirty riders, making it a much better place to wallow in anonymity while still attaching shallow pride in "beating" some of them.

But if you want promoters to still have a single speed class, someone(s) is/are gonna have to show up.  
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So, looking at the other SS riders registered and it looked like a bunch of us would be just near misses from the podium, barring any calamity at the pointy end of the race.  Five of us riding with mebbe a shot at a day or two on the boxes.  

I officially flipped over, and the next day, Gordong flopped from the SS to the Open class.

At least I think so.  That Gordong.  So cryptic.

So now with some chance of a podium spot, I'm over here deliberating tire options and pushing down the not-so-deep regrets that I didn't at least attempt to get in some shape that isn't round these past few weeks (months?).  I'd been seeking some kind of intrinsic motivation other than "it would hurt less if I was in better shape, but..."

*scrolls through Wahoo history to figure out how much I've actually been riding because I hadn't given it any thought until right about now*

Looking forward to Singletrack Summer Camp for the eleventh time and focusing on riding and frands and sleeping and beers and eating and frands and not being at work and perhaps a healthy dose of competition... with frands.  I'll have my bike all sorted out by the weekend, tires and a new lighter insert in the rear because why not try something new right before a stage race?  Speaking of, this will be my first entire stage race on a suspension fork since the 2004 La Ruta, so that oughta be something?  Can't wait to descend trails like Pig Pile and No Name and riding over chunk gnar without feeling like every pedal rotation comes with a rope-a-dope hope that the rocks will get tired out before I do.  Fortunately, the Dick Handler at Fox was kind enough to swap my 34 from Grip 2 to Fit 4 so I can lockout on the climbs and feel like a racer boi... albeit on a very capable 140mm fork.

This is going to be such a good time.

See you in a week and then some.