StupidHurts

Alison and I rolled into [tag]Atlanta[/tag] on friday night and got to the first party and the [tag]tricks[/tag] competition. My first set of goals were to find Jes, get registered, and find a partner. I managed to get registered, but as it turned out Jes never made it to the party, and the guy who I thought would be my partner ended up not showing the next day for the [tag]race[/tag].

The skids and tricks competition was a lot of fun to watch but in the end I think I value my [tag]bike[/tag] and my body a little to much to participate in something like that. Before it was over with someone ended up having to miss the race because they managed to break their collar bone, several ribs, and their bike in half from failing a trick. Walking through the parking lot was tricky due to the massive number of bikes stacked on top of each other. We ended up spending the night with Jay one of the race organizers and his dogs Carl and Emma.

Fast forward to just before the race. I ran into another BikeForums Member James Dean who looked a little sick, I asked him were his partner was. He pointed to a guy completely passed out on the ground. Apparently they had started drinking when they woke up that morning and had only stopped minutes before. I took time to walk around and look at some of the other bicycles and costumes in the crowd. There were lots of people out milling around, but it wasn’t until much later I found out there were over 180 registered racers. (side note james threw up on someone’s car mid race and kept riding)

As the start of the race drew closer I still didn’t have a partner so I climbed up onto the railing and basically called out to see who all was left without one. Bobby raised his hand and I walked over and introduced myself, we talked strategy for a few moments before the race marshal started calling things to order.

It was a mass start, we all lined up our bikes on one side of the road and started on the other. With the tangle of bikes and blinking lights it looks like a Christmas light show and was mildly hypnotic. The race marshal called the start. The tense silence turned into a mad scramble, someone fell. I took of to my bike in a slow comfortable jog, since it was all the way in the back I knew once I got to it, I could make up time. Everything else was like riding a steel tidal wave.

My partner and I did surprisingly well. We lost our map before the first stop. During a sprint I actually watched it go bouncing down the street. But in the heat of the moment there was nothing I could do. We placed tenth over all, and placed first for an out of town team. I got a pair of jeans and he got a coffee cup. All in a days race I think.