THE YEAR IN REVIEW

BEST SHAMELESS PILFERING:
This one is tough. As most of my reader(s) know, I cross over any mythical boundary that separates your stuff and mine. I mostly grab stuff from the Griffo- ciraptor as he is my beotch. This year I've grabbed and rode on two of his bikes. The first was the BlewByYou which I rode to a third in the Madera time trial. The second bike that I borrowed was his Cross bike at Hellyer when my stead shelled its seat from under me. Other things borrowed: Aero helmet, Aero shoe cover things, Rear wheel for El Diablo hill climb, etc. And the winner is....BlewByYou.





BEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT:
Again a tough one. I bought and successfully installed one of those CatEye wireless cyclocomputers for my cross bike. Only feature I was really looking for was cadence and oddly enough, it's the only feature that I've been able to get to work. I also received for Christmas a digital camera. Unfortunately both of those lose out to this Blog. I started blogging this year on my birthday and it's been really fun. I have a lot of weird things rattling around in my brain that often get spilled out onto this page. The camera will probably win this category next year when I actually figure out how to use it, get the pictures from it and onto the site, get past page three of the manual, etc.

BEST RACE:
Had a lot of fun racing this year (well maybe not in any of the crits) so this again is tough. Napa Dirt has this category hands down. I showed up on race day with dead legs from doing the Wente Road Race. After a decent warm up, I hit the start like a man possessed. I got in behind Steve Oz and hung for a while. Later, after I had a snack and some fluid, I whipped up some serious tempo and left him in the dust. Went on to finish second WooHoo. Honorable mention, McLane Pacific. After missing the Varsity break on the first lap, I managed to form the JV break at the top of the rollers. I had a teammate with me who I pulled for most of the second lap. With the help of a couple of other guys, we came close to reeling in the break, but never quite caught them. We put serious time into the peloton, which was fun. My guy sprinted home for fifth in the race. I finished ninth.

WORST RACE:
Hellyer cross. Crashed within 50 yards of the start, broke a seat, dropped chain about five times, at the end I was behind some guy that was weaving all over the place not letting me pass. All the while mocking me. Later I found out he was a full lap down on me. Pathetic.

BEST WORST CRASH:
No doubt about this one. Falling on October 24th and getting scraped off the ground by the paramedics. Concussed and broken ribs slowed me down for a while. The Hellyer crash above sucked too, but the only thing hurt there was my pride.

BEST FLAT TIRE
Finishing off a ride in Watsonville, my tire went flat as I rode up to my door. Had a glorious ride through the fields of Watsonville, SeaScape, Aptos as advised by the Vello Bella. I was without tools for whatever reason, but the (Deity's of your choice) smiled on me by flatting me in the best place possible--the finish.

BEST MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT:
Oh the chest is filled for this category. See Hellyer description above. Not even close to the shame I felt by crashing at the Sea Otter. One minute into the race, while we were still on the road even, the group took a hard right on some smaller pit road thing when I thought we'd stay on the main race track to the left. At the last minute I tried to squeeze in on the left hand side of the peloton and got shoved further left onto the dirt. I buried my front wheel in a man sized rut and over the bars I went. As I tumbled I heard the peloton laughing heartily at my expense.

BEST RIDE OF THE YEAR:
Way too tough to call. The finalists are: Doing a preview lap with the Griffociraptor at the Sea Ott. We were both in a great mood and riding the new course was really fun. The smooth single track was a blast to ride and the weather held on just long enough for us to get a lap in. Also, any ride with Pat McLaughlin. It's like motorpacing riding behind him. All the while he's telling clever stories about life. Emigrant trail with Colleen Wante over Memorial Day Weekend. It was snowing, but the trails were in great shape. And the winner is: Taking an afternoon off to meet my boy at his school to ride down the trail back to the house. I know, kindof sappy, but it is pretty great.

BEST CLOSET READER OF THE GOFAST BLOGPAGE:
Fellow Pegasaurus...Mike Vomund. In a hushed tone, every time I see him, he tells me out of the side of his mouth that he reads my stuff. Not sure why he keeps it on the downlow, not exactly porn over here.

BEST POST OF THE YEAR AS AWARDED BY YOU THE COMMENTORS:
Tie between the post with me in a little girls bathing suit (perverts all of you), the one about my missing dog (get a grip--it's just a dog), and the post about coffee (caffeine addicts).

Anyway, it's been a great year and you've been a great audience. Thanks for reading and don't forget to tip your waitresses. I'll see you on the other side.

Johnny GoFast