Has anybody seen my legs? I had them on Friday, but when I woke up today they seem to be missing. They are flesh colored and resemble gigantic pistons from a really powerful truck. They answer to the names: "Shock" and "Awe". I can't be certain when I lost them but it might have been sometime around 10:30am Sunday. I definitely had them on Saturday during the Wente Road Race. I used them to pick up a third in the 35+ 4/5 race. My intention was to help one of my teammates during the race as he is a much better climber than I am, typically. Going into the finishing climb, there were about 15 of us still together. I had worked earlier to bring back one break and I had sat on another guy that was trying to get away. As we made the right hander on to the steep finishing slope, the group was moving fairly slowly. So I attacked thinking that I would weed out those that were in the way and call out those that could climb better than the rest. I assumed that my guy would follow the wheels. After about a minute I looked back and I had a big lead. I remember looking down at my legs in astonishment and thinking, "look at you guys go." Finally two guys started to counter but unfortunately my guy was not with them. I looked up the road as it started to flatten out and tried to convince myself that the engine was not blown. I dug deep, but that bedrock is hard to chip through. I was passed not once, but twice before I could get to the line.

So yesterday I'm warming up for the Napa Dirt Classic and everything seems to be checking out okay. The legs actually feel pretty good. The start seemed to reveal something different, however. Mark Howland and James Coates went off the line like they'd been raped by a large animal. My head felt like it was going to explode due to the effort. I looked down and the legs seem to suggest that they were giving me everything but the heart rate told a different story. Normally I race with a pretty high HR, but yesterday I was barely cracking the 170's. Not good. With Howland and Coates gently rolling away, I tried my best to stay hooked to the 3rd place guy (Den Satake). I could see him occasionally, but he had a full can of whip ass out as well. I was riding okay on some of the single track, but not great. I tried to ignore the pain and go as hard as I could, but when it's off, it's off I suppose. I brought the thing in for a fourth place finish in the Expert 40-49 class. I saw Coates and Satake at the start of the climb out of the Pope Valley, but eventually they put ~five minutes into me over the last 30 minutes. That's a bitch slap. Anyway, if anyone has a line on where my legs might be, shoot me a line. Oh, and I've checked with the milk companies already and they won't put a photo of them on a carton so don't suggest that. All other suggestions welcome. Hope you are well.

Johnny GoFast