tarck? ya, but not so much.

(photo: Mike Campbell) Let's just start by saying TEAM LOVE IN FULL EFFECT!!!! Holy crap there must have been more than 3/4 of our team there last night. Everyone just having a great time, we gave away some beers, we laughed alot. We got a team photo too, which nobody's seen yet, but we're told is awesome.

Now on to my "race"... I always have these completely misplaced dreams of showing up at an event I'm not at all trained for or practiced at and completely annihilating with my "natural talent." Blame too much time around Ben, or too much listening to ELO. Either way, last night it was re-re-reconfirmed that this ain't the case, and that not doing something for 2 years and then doing it means you kind of have to get the hang of it again, and that in a race is probably not the best place to get the hang of it again, though it works.

Let's just say, DFL in three races. Actually, DNF in the first. It went like this:
- First race was a scratch. Nobody would come around me, so I just started heating it up. When I got to speed my front wheel got scary-wobbly. Afraid I was about to roll a tire, I dropped out. I borrowed Chris' wheel for the rest of the night.
- Second race was a miss n' out. In the first lap of the race I was like, "look at me! I'm riding in a pack again!" Then someone jumped and I was too busy savoring the moment to notice. I smiled and giggled as I was pulled and my 1 lap race was over.
- Third race was a points. I knew I wouldn't get any, so I just rode my bike. The awesome part was, as we fell into tempo for the non-points lap, I got to try "team tacticts," letting teammate Sarah in front of me in the paceline and then trying to slow the paceline down so she could go off the front with the rider in front of her. It worked very briefly before the guys behind me figured it out (either that or just thought I was way too slow) and came around me. But hey, practice counts, right? After they came around me I missed the wheel and was pretty much solo sprinting to my last place finish- though I wasn't lapped, a small boon.

So... 4th of 4 women, aka DFL, aka whateverthehell I did it for the team. Congrats to teammate Sarah who in her first season out there is kicking butt!

Today, redemption in the form of about 13 mi of Palos singletrack with Erica. What fun! Having someone else there kept me honest and I rode most of what I didn't last time.