SHREWWWS and roots MTB racing.

Sunday I did the Midi Libre MTB race in the Gard area of France. It was a return to my roots… remember… roots… shrews…?! No? Well, you had to be a part of the Subaru MTB series with me back in 1999. Oh well.

So I was up at 4am to get to the race over in the middle of noplace in the Seveen something region of France. It was a big race (I found out once I got there)… I was just going to ride around with my buddy Alphonce. So, there were some good guys there, guys from Lapierre, Maxxis etc. I guess some of the guys who didn’t want to go to the World Cup in Canada. There were 170 of us on the start line. Wow, for an MTB race… and that’s just in my category. Seeing as the race was part of a series, I had to start way back on the start line as it was my first race. It was one big loop, and get this, it was such a hard race, that it took us almost 3.5 hours to do the 45km loop!!! Anyway, I surprised myself and managed to finish 12th. I was very happy with myself. Maybe I should put the result down to my careful choice of equipment. I got my bike loaded with all the aerodynamic advantages I could… I used spinergy wheels.. etc… OK fine, so I went down to the basement before the race and pulled up my dusty MTB, it just so happened to have those wheels on it… great, they are heavy and it was a very VERY hilly course. Duh!
Maybe I’ll start MTB racing again….

My thoughts go out to Jeremiah who flatted while in 4th place at the Canada World Cup on Sunday…. That’s gotta suck!!! I’m gonna be looking out for the big man himself at the next round this coming weekend… lets all hope he has a flawless ride and pulls of the result he deserves! He’s obviously in good shape, so… Go JB.
If JB stopped fucking around on his MTB though, I bet he could save himself some serious electricity bills with the watts that bastard puts out! Hook his turbo-trainer up to a capacitor… use his wheel as a fan to cool the house down… ecologically sound Bishop housing.
Have I been drinking?