tick tick tick........

countdown is on to this weekends painfest. final bike prep was done last night. everything looks to be in order so you know it will all go wrong at the last minute!

full report, update, and maybe even some pics when and if we return!

Team darkhorse goes to the west point tri?

yeah, you heard it right. team darkhorse was represented by non other than "el hefe" george at the west point tri! i can't come up with words for it so i will let his email do the talkin! all i can say is yeah it sounded bad and i'm sure in reality it was worse. thankfully he survived. as had he passed on i was going to have to find a new ride down to sheandoah for the 100 miler and that would have been a pain on such short notice! so see below for the gory details.

(all below text from "el hefe")

So there we were, bright and early at Camp Buckner on Sunday for the 19th annual West Point Tri. Mike Rave and I were set up for neutral support, and I had entered the event as well. In usual fashion I did not bother to train in the selected fields of swimming and running as I had put all that nonsense behind me...I just wanted to finish, and go home to cut my grass.
John Epidy showed up as did Stevie Pruschki with the whole female Pruschki contingent in tow...Marie, Laura, and Sara, all looking svelte in their "tri-finery".
I could tell Stevie was wired hotter than the business end of a cattle prod as he paced the parking lot, and decided to get away from everyone so they wouldn't speak to him. I on the other hand was as cool as could be considering I haven't had a check up by my physician in so long, I could only assume my heart would handle the half mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 5K run, without imploding!
On to the beach for final instructions, and there was Stevie lubing himself up with some sort of agent, allegedly to help him slip in and out of his wet suit easier...if you ask me, he was enjoying that far too much!!! Anyway, I passed the time chatting with Marie, with the off handed remark if I happened to beat Stevie, I would play it for all it's worth.
Without going into the gory details, I finished 12th out of 29 in my age group with a time of 1:36:13, and felt darn good doing it in spite of my lack of training or caring. Mr. P. on the other hand turned in a time of 1:38:16, and anyone who finished 1st grade can do the math...I had came, I had seen, and I had conquered! Only after slapping a multitude of backs did I find out that he had a flat with his bike still in the rack, and lost time changing the tube.
Doesn't matter...in the record books, to the victor go the spoils!
So, this is the last say I will have on this matter, as we all know the truth is George got lucky...gotta play lotto this week! Wonder where Stevie got that tube dontch'a know???
I have taken this all in stride, and decided I will give Stevie a chance to redeem himself next year...what the heck, I might even jog once or twice before then, and perhaps swim in something other than self-pity, and or conceit....nah, why bother?
So it's on to Virginia this weekend for the Shenandoah 100 with "Hawiian Mike"...looking forward to this big time as who knows when I'll get another chance to shine...Mike need not worry, as I have resigned myself to allowing him to pace off me for the race. Who knows, I might even let him lead... "Yours in cycling" George