Dirty and Dateless!

WELCOME TO THE FUN HOUSE
Blind Date #5 finale
By M.M. Blomberg

COME ONE, COME ALL! Ride the “Wash Out” roller coaster! Test your strength against the A’s! Or, enjoy taste treats in the Midway!

Creative bike lights and a smattering of costumes made this final Blind Date feel more festive, even with a small turnout. My right knee is so carved up it went dressed as a jack-o-lantern. Transformed once again, our course was shorter but equally as challenging. Rain left the mud sections thick and sticky with huge ruts and the grassy sections were very deceiving, leading to many wipe outs in the early races.
The Amazing WHOOSH (Alice Pennington,Team S&M) was back tonight as the Big Top show stopper and series leader. Doing my best to steal the spotlight, I jumped off the line and stayed ahead, beating Alice for the Hole Shot preme. She chased me until just after the run up and passed me on the hill by the Velodrome ( just getting warmed up I’m sure). I stayed in second position for part of lap 2, then washed out, taking a grassy slick right turn too hard in the field. Crap! Getting passed! Back up again I begin my chase of Amy Rice (Lazy Tarantulas) and Sarah Eustice (Bike Attorney). Feels strangely familiar. By the time we hit the barrier section again, I try to pass Amy. Ooophff.... Down I go in the slick grass. Double crap, right knee bleeding again. Run Monkey Run!! Turning it on, I chase and chase, keeping on the wheels of Amy and Sarah, waiting for my chance to pounce. Back into the tree section, the generators were not working properly and the lights were going off and on with a slow strobe light effect (made me a little nauseous). Welcome to the Fun House! Who says you can race by braille? With 4 laps to go, I finally passed Sarah and Amy at the run up and continued my attack to create a gap. Slowing into the corners and up out of the saddle out of the corner. Attack! Attack! Amy kept chasing but I am set on riding the legs off of that little spider and my gap slowly increases. My brain is screaming “JUST STAY UPRIGHT!” Bell lap and it’s all out. Pushing my speed, I enter the final barrier section by myself. Ring Master Luciano announces to the crowd of 10 that I am a fighter and moving up quickly in the A’s.
I finished with a strong 4^th, just 15 seconds behind the 3^rd place position. No balloons or Cracker Jacks but I did win a bag of Stumptown coffee for the Hole Shot preme. With the series over, I guess I will have to settle for being dirty and dateless.

Csaba had an awesome race and moved up again, turning his finish into an all out foot race with two other riders, running his bike to the finish line. Sarah is still trying to shake off her cold and she humbly accepted the role of DFL. You get credit for showing up and racing Sarah. Pretty hard core if you ask me. THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Sarah and Sandra for staying late in the cold to watch me suffer and bleed!