Memoirs of a Geisha

So how did I come up with the costume? With one day left before Halloween, I raided my wives vast wardrobe. It's truly a magical place. I came across a leather coat and leather shorts from the 80's with all these wild colors. But what could I do with that? Next I found a sari. Should I go as Ghandi? I had the glasses, but I couldn't pull off a shaved head over a helmet. Next I found some authentic Japanese robes. I know I had white grease paint and a white long haired wig. Could I transform the white wig into a geisha's headpiece? Well, we all know what the answer is to that question. With two rubberbands, scissors, a can of black spray paint, chopsticks, and some fake flowers for color, a geisha was born! Tony Yashimoda.
While checking in to the 4A race my name was called and I corrected the official of my last name. On the final check to see if everybody was present, my name was called again and again I corrected the official. She got it the second time around. I have always liked this course, seeing that this is my third season riding it. I can definately say that was the most stakes I have ever run through or broken, inadvertantly and also on purpose. I think I made it through there cleanly only once and every time I went trough people were saying " which spectator is he aiming for this time?" Not everybody noticed, but one time after the single track that I went through the tape instead of going around the greasy turn I let the two riders past me who I unfairly passed. Out of the eight times I went up the hill I ran once. Outside of that, if you stayed far left you were fine. No real big problems outside of that. It just feel like whenever I get off my bike to run I feel like a clydsdale.
This was my first time doubling up. If it doesn't kill you the first time, might as well try again. I really didn't fare any better. I wasn't expecting another call up. I do appreciate that the organizers recognized the women in the race and flannel guy, and the other guy who goes nameless, but plugs away race after race. It's just nice to see that our cycling community is not full of itself and hospitable to every caliber of rider. So after a thurough washing I'm back to plain old Tony Rienks.

Chicago Cross Cup Race #5

And the pain just keeps coming at you. It was another tough race this week brought to you by ABD. The course was long and set up for the power riders, with long straight false flats. The ground kinda soft for my first race, the masters 30+. I am still in a fog with all of the non-training that we have been doing. (The price for puting on our first cross race, well worth it.) I’m not worried anymore about placing in the rest of the cross races. I just want to ride hard and get as much benefit as I can out of them.

One thing that was good was I raced on a set of carbon tubular from Rob Curtis. He is renting sets at each race, so you can try them before you buy them. I will post a review of the wheels on my blog in a few days.

On another note, I had the opportunity to meet some of the upper crust of the local cross scene. One being Tim Boundy from Verdigris Cycling. He gave our team some great praise for our race that we put on. When someone like that says that it was UCI caliber, and very euro, you have to stop and take notice,and he is not the only one. Trust me when you get people of that caliber commend you on your course, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. A bit of fear that you will have to step it up again next year. I’m sure that we will be up to the challenge. We have an outstanding core of riders and sponsers who have stepped up to the plate all the time. To which a lot of the credit should go to. VeePak inc. & the Beverly Bike Shop For now we have more pressing things to tend to. We have shown that we are a good team in retrospect to always being out there, but now we need to work on our commitment to training to achieve better results next year. Only time will tell on that one.

To all of those who were yelling for me all over the course, THX. I was ready to die out there. The cheers were the only thing that was keeping me going in the last race. You are all the best.

Bob

As the World Turns

I thought our course was hard. But man, all those turns made me as dizzy as a kid getting off the tea cups at Disney; by the way, which I also experienced. I got there last minute as usual, and I met Bob for a little pre-course strategy. He gave me some tips on the course. It was nice having someone on the team ride 30+ with me. It gives me support and motivation to do well and I hope I have the same effect on others. Bob has been riding well so I had to be on my game. As we took off, Bob got to the front of the race quickly and in good position. I tried to use him as a carrot but he was riding well and I felt he was pulling away. I’m very sketchy on the turns and with so many of them I could sense I was dropping back. More confident riders were easily passing me. What little I could make up was on the straights and clearly this was not going to be enough. As I started losing sight of Bob, all of a sudden I see him standing by a tree I thought for sure he crashed. As I approached him I asked “you crashed?” He held up the top of his saddle while the metal rails remain on his bike. Enough said. That sucked for sure.
As I continued the race, it got harder the more turns I made the more squeamish I got. I crashed last Sunday on our own course.. Go figure? I didn’t want to crash today.(what a Wuss) The sand pit had a nice twist to it or shall I say turn, also those rolling bumps were equally challenging. The course was awesome my skills suck, but I still had a blast and my sweet wife got some nice pics. Thanks for your support!!!!! See you next week.


E

Carpentersville Race Report

I changed up races and road in the 30+ event. Not wanting to interfere with the real racers I lined up in the back. I figured if I started in the back and moved up past riders it would be good training. The plan started off well enough, I went into turn 1 DFL, and by the middle of the first lap I was sitting mid pack. I was leading a group of 6 to 8 riders into the last two turns when I hit a large root on a turn and went down. I heard a few of the guys ask if I was ok, and I told them yes, and to go. I jumped up and hopped to remount the bike, but when my leg hit the seat, the seat snapped off the rails with a loud snap. I jumped on the bike anyway, saying to myself, I’m going to finish one lap. That’s when the officials saw me cross the line and laughed as they told me I was done if I didn’t have a saddle or pit bike in the pit. They did say AAAAhhhhhh that’s the noise we heard, as they chuckled.

Bob