New Socks - NEW ATTITUDE!

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL ON DATE NIGHT
by M.M. Blomberg


Training be damned. I think there is power in cool socks. Dressing with more confidence for my third Blind Date, I felt as though I had finally come far enough to dawn my new knee highs(see photo) and rock it out. This mid October Wednesday brought sunny skies, but we couldn’t escape a chill in the air as the hour grew late. Our course was long, fast and incorporated some muddy sections that hadn’t quite faded since the rain two days before. The lines through the large field were a little soft and took us over more grass than last week. I found this new field route much faster and the soft grass was helpful in taking corners without worrying about washing out. New tonight was a Hole Shot preme to be given to the 1^st racer in each category to reach a tractor parked at the sticky climb into the woods. The back tree section was the same but the rain had changed good ol’ Mr. Run Up into a slick, sticky climb to a left turn onto the pavement and back around the Velodrome. Even some of the pro/A men were running it. Thank goodness I put spikes in my shoes.
The dating scene was a little smaller than usual for my 8:00 race. Nine women tonight instead of the usual fifteen. But what they didn’t know was, I brought my secret cotton/lycra weapon to lay the smack down and smite the weak (pretty sure my lighter Tangerine Flame Kona helped). I flew off the line and jumped way out ahead of the pack. Alice Pennington (Kona rider, otherwise known as Whoosh) and Bridget Brown (River City) chased me through the field and caught me before we hit the left turn onto the gravel. They beat me to the Hole Shot preme but not by much. Alice sailed away into the trees (shocking I know) but I stayed with top series leaders Bridget and Julie Browning (CyclePath) for the first five laps. No crashes and my legs felt strong. An unfortunate line on lap 5 left a Bridgetown Velo lady crashed out with a sprained thumb by the Velodrome. Mid race I was lapped by the Men's A's leader but I never saw Alice again after the start. By the bell on lap 9 I was thinking, “WOW, am I really in 4^th place? Whoohoo!” I even passed a couple of the A men during the race. Yeah, that’s right. Fear me, fear my socks! Plenty left in the tank for the final lap and the long cold ride home.
Thanks super socks!!!

Csaba’s dating life improved with a nice 20^th finish in a tough field of over 65 guys. Sarah rode strong and is following in my crashing footsteps, finishing her race smiling and bleeding. Nice work passing ladies on the run up Sarah! The only fatality was in the men’s field (A/pro possibly) with a rider taking trip to the hospital for a broken collar bone during my race. Dating is hard. But I guess we like it rough.