providence and submission again.....

Like I keep saying, this is the best damn team. I'll keep it as brief as I can on this report as we will no doubt get together for a meeting and relive the whole experience. Friday: My race was at 9:30 a.m. and I wasn't too keen on the early start but mercifully it was a lot warmer this year and I got to ride the course before I raced. I drew a 6th row start, not very promising but when the whistle blew I got moving and passed a lot of people in the first lap. With two laps to go a really painful cramp made me go backwards and I lost most of what I gained but still was a little ahead of where I started, finishing 49th out of 68. Evan had a first row start but had the misfortune of going through the course tape and down a hill. By the time he got back on course he was almost 70th. He fought his way back to 53rd out of about 150. Dan Harting had just as bad a starting position as I did but really flew in the first half of his race and made it all the way to 18th place out of 120-odd riders, a truly heroic ride. Simon was on the front row in his start but with his back still very painful it was anyone's guess if he would even finish. He really turned himself inside out and ended up 10th, not losing his first row position , a miracle in my opinion. Saturday: Saturday was all about Snead and his start position near the back of the field didn't make him a happy guy. Nevertheless he passed many riders and fought hard until the last lap when he sat up and figured it wasn't worth fighting for 42nd place. Sunday: Josh redeemed himself this day with a renewed attitude and with a similar starting position rode all the way up to 19th, beating many of the best in the sport and showing that when he had his race head together he can be oe of the fastest guys out there. The heroic ride award has to go the Shelley, though. We all were watching her go from the 8th row, passing riders at every opportunity.All of us were yelling at the top of our lungs as she went by, eyes always focused ahead on her next rider to pass. A top 20 finish would have been a major achievement on this day but Shelley doesn't know how to ride that slow appearantly and vaulted into the top ten , ending up 8th.The other heroe award goes to Ryan for making the trip and helping not only us, but anyone who needed his assistance. A big thanks has to go to Karen Bullard who's sponsorship fed the team ( and got us much needed post-race alcoholic pain relief ). As luck would have it, the only big loser of the weekend was Britney Spears , who's self titled c.d. was discarded on the side of the road, no doubt from someone realizing their error in purchasing such a collection of awful music.