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56 year old Tom Officer kicked our asses and took home our lunch money on Saturday. Pretty amazing and inspiring, since he spotted most of us ten years. Once an animal, always an animal. I was happy with my ride, climbing and finishing well despite an off-week of training that left me feeling fat and bloated by the weekend. The Cronoman also rode strong, but was taken down in one of two dumb crashes that happened in the closing kilometers. There was a lot of shadow-boxing/muscle-flexing/dick-waving up front throughout the race as a couple of the power brokers continually threw little attacks and responses at one another, and in the end all the shucking/jiving/swerving resulted in some overlapped wheels and downed riders. EAM picked himself up and rejoined the field as we turned on to the final climb, but he was a bit gassed from the chase. We got in a good cooldown ride after the race, and stayed dry all day too, which was kind of a surprise after the wet start. I like Jiminy Peak though; this is a good race for me. Maybe I can get another ten years out of it, but T.O. looks like he'll still be going strong at 66 too. Thanks for reading.
Funny.. As the 45+ field caught and absorbed me today in the Blue Hills Classic, I looked around me and said "Damn, I hope I'm this strong in ten years when I'm 47.."
ReplyDeleteTom and I go back a few years, but that's because we share a profession- we're both millrats. Back in 1999 or so, Tom's millwork company and mine partnered and furnished COACH Stores all over the country with high end woodwork and store fixtures. Good times.
Tom's a good man.
"Yah, I felt kinda good and was sorta happy and finished top 10... " Way to go tough guy.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, how true is the "shadow boxing/dick waving" description in most races... :)