DFL-icious.

(photo: Bobbi Bowers.) When payout/prizes go 4 deep, and you're 4th of 4, you get the sweet sweet beer of a winner, even though you're really not. It's one of the oddities of women's racing. It happens alot... much like our WEMS series wins.

I've had a lot of DFL action this year. It's sort of a joke to me, since I'm slow and I know it, since racing is something I do for the social aspect more than anything, but I do want to share my thinking on this one...
First, I've done things this year that are new to me or that I don't usually do. One of the DFL's is on the track, which I've not ridden in two years. One is in an "open" class packed with superfast expert women, which I've never raced before.
Second, I still believe that finishing whole is more important than where I place. In the case of that WEMS race, I just wasn't risking a tumble down from the off-camber slickness, so I just took my time and did what I could to stay upright. I still think that drop out and DFL was a good, logical choice.
Third, I don't drop out of events just to avoid the DFL. Which I know some people do. But if I'm going to be able to cross the finish line, I will. Sorta like my failure marathon: if I said I'd do it, I'll do it, no matter how slow.
And finally, I'm really not serious about racing. I have it coming, basically. My love of beer will never be supplanted by concern for race weight, and my training still bows to the exercise needs of my dog.

Either way, we keep rolling. Yesterday Molly and I ran ~8 mi to the lake and back, and later I checked out the Track Cats fundraiser with Audrey. And drank lots of beer.

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.

Summertime.

Ben and I came home from last night's workouts giddy like schoolgirls. He immediately sat down to the computer to see the gizmo's testimonial to his work - 973 watts for 60 minutes with spikes to 1600 or somesuch- and I reached for the shower beer, knowing that I earned it, numbers be damned. It's all good news on these sunny days, until the washer starts sounding like an AK47 and the overflow of workout hormones has us shouting for no reason, but that's short lived. When the biggest problem is overcooking tofu on the grill, things can't be all that bad.

Naturally he was flying down the path and I was chasing the whole time, but I have my game and he has his. It's discouraging to think in comparison-- that and it doesn't even make sense. I'm slow. And coming from the back of the pack to midpack is improvement enough for me, should I ever get there. Not even sure what I'm training for now... Cheq? Last summer the motivation was a wedding dress. This summer it's... tbd.

Ben pulled Okashii down from its perch last night and dusted her off for tonight's jaunt. Hopefully I don't make a complete fool of myself. Scratch that: hopefully, if I do make a complete fool of myself, I'll do it with a smile.