Big day yesterday. It being Mother's Day and all and I somehow managed to avoid the knife that was hurled at me first thing when I feigned ignorance. And then the addition of the old, "shouldn't you do more mothering on Mother's Day," only added to the already tense situation. In the end, my wife got everything she could have hoped for including:

1) An Alley Cat bike extension thing for the girl.

2) A bike ride down to Hap Magee Park with a quick snack stop at the 7-11.

3) Lunch at Pete's Brass Rail.

4) A massage.

5) Two buckets of folded laundry.

6) BMXin' with the boy and his cousin at the BMX park (see above).

7) Swim and family time with my two brothers, sisters in laws, and assorted wee ones at Del Amigo pool.

By the time everything was said and done, my butt hit the couch at 9pm. Too late to call my own darn mother and wish her the happiness. With the guilt, I plunged the knife Chieko was too kind to spare on me earlier in the day straight into my abdomen. What a donkey, I am.

So on Saturday I raced the Berkeley Hill Road Race for the first time. A race I'm not too ashamed to admit that I've been a little fearful of for sometime. I do a lot of training out on those open, windswept, hilly ass hills, and they humble me constantly. I've often wondered what a race on them would be like. Well this weekend I got my chance. I rode over to the course early (so pro) to get my warm up in. I thought I knew the shortcut but I didn't and ended up getting lost and blowing about 10 minutes in the process (not pro at all). Luckily the race was running a bit behind schedule so I got there in time to reg and pin the number. I was feeling a bit off as I was fighting off something last week. It could also have something to do with the amount of efforts I've been putting forth lately and my body is just plain old tired. I was in this for the training and to help a couple of guys win, so I didn't have a whole lot of pressure on me anyway. The first lap was kind of uneventful save for the dude that rolled off the front with another in tow. "Three laps, wind, hills, no chance," I thought. On the second lap I moved to the front and started pulling in earnest. There was some well intentioned souls up there, but we couldn't really organize the whole paceline thing. One guy would rip through gapping the group and the guy behind him. The next guy would pull through and slow too much. I'd be on the front for what seemed like an unfair amount of time, etc. After about a half hour of this non-sense, I was spent and retreated to the back with my tail between my legs. Some San Jose guy finally killed any hope with his wild flailing about antics. He was whipping his arm around trying to detail exactly how a paceline was supposed to work. And he tried desperately to rally the troops and efforts by pointing out who wasn't working and lambasting others and their efforts. I couldn't take it and frankly I was concerned that the guy was going to take himself and others out, so I moved away from him. He looked like he knew what he was talking about for sure (maybe he is in that sub category Pro-Cat 4). Anyway, like I said, I sucked and went to the back where I was certain at any moment I'd be dropped. The third lap was more of the same with me struggling along on the back. The last time up the Mama Bear, I was surprised that I was still in the mix. At the top, there was a little shuffling going on, and two San Jose guys along with two ZteaM guys and a couple of free agents rolled off the front. I had enough to go with it with the intention of representing the Peg's until the peloton caught up. One of our protected riders came across and at that point, seeing that we had numbers and a good climber, I went to the front and did the old drill it and flame out routine. Twice. Apparently it was enough to get us over those baby rollers before the Papa Bear as the peloton never caught back on. I pedalled at the back up the finishing climb telling my self I would stay with the group until we were caught. They never came through so I had to go pretty hard. Our guy couldn't go with the finishing surge out of a ZteaM guy, but he held off all the others to get third. I came in seventh happy to be done and happy to have helped if not a little. Anyway, happy to have raced and slayed the beast. A little time off from racing due to some upcoming dates on the dirt out of state. Hope you are well and that you all had a good Mother's Day.

Johnny GoFast