Best Day Ever (on 2 wheels)

One year ago this weekend I unpacked my first proper geared road bike, and this year I was in the Tour de France. Sorta.

Snake Alley, 2009
Sometimes life ties you up. No racing for the last 6 weeks, and not a lot of training miles either (not to mention there are no Snake-like hills in these parts). Couple that with the fact that I haven't been built like a manorexic climber since age 23 or so, and let's just say I didn't have high hopes for Snake Alley. What can you do? There are no real tactics, it's just...go hard, climb, bomb the downhill, pedal through a few turns, repeat. Try not to bonk.

I mostly raced about 1% inside my red zone, which was the plan, but I finished two spots out of the money in 17th, whatev. Max had a mechanical and Mike finished in 8th. His magic climbing beans are continuing to pay off this year. (Molly cramped, toppled, rubbed it out and got back in, and in the 3s, Al worked his way from 45th to 12th, 8 of those spots on the last lap.)

So if you're not going to be a factor in a race, I figured, you may as well not be a factor in two. It's a long drive for only 40 minutes of racing. While it's not uncommon to double up, it's not something that a lot of people do at Snake Alley, save maybe the Masters/Pros looking for another paycheck. And they generally don't do it back to back.

So minutes after my race, the Masters are cued up, looking especially sparkling and fresh, and I'm dumping ice water over my head and trying to control the hyperventilation. I get to the line looking like hell...well, let's just say it's not pretty. The whistle goes and I'm off the back. Whatev.

So here's where the day starts to get fun. On my next trip up the snake, amid a few comments of "that guy's already dropped on the first lap? ouch"...I get to the Cuttin' Crew's Couch Corner, ride through a row of high fives, maybe pull a wheelie for a microsecond, and the Crew is going nuts. Within a couple laps, about three switchbacks full of fans are in on the fact that I'm rolling back to back races, and they are pouring it on.

If you've never heard a deafening crowd chanting "A-VI! A-VI! A-VI!" You should try it sometime, with your own name, of course. I was laughing out loud at how ridiculous it was, throwing wheelies when they called for them. I had fans inches from my face, yelling GET UP THERE and a guy in antlers with a flag running me over the crest. In short order I was lapped by the leaders, and I wonder what they must have thought as they were climbing the hill, and the crowd was going insane for...who? Somebody later told me you could hear it from the start/finish, three blocks away.

What to say about this? 22 laps up the Snake. Best day of racing ever. Teams are good for a lot of things, but when they are inciting a near riot on your behalf...well, you just don't get that anywhere. So first and foremost, this is for them.