Back to the Grindstone

Since the last post on this bad boy I've been busy indulging in the new summer semester kicking off and now in full swing and also my first race in a very long time. Going into this summer semester we were told from the class above us that this semester is a cake walk and that they spent the entire summer at the beach because of all the free time they had. I don't know where they were coming from on this one or if a lot of things have changed over the course of the year but free time is few and far between. Then again it is Andrews University so their cruel intentions of wanting us to be in class for 8 hours a day during the summer semester wouldn't surprise me whatsoever. Guess I'm getting my monies worth...

Also for about the last week and a half I've been getting on the bike more and more and starting to see the legs coming back around, well at least hoping so. I did the Winona Road Race this past weekend debuting with the new team: "Hank Smash" when in reality I'm just wearing my old Scholars Inn Bakehouse kit. It was a relatively slow race even for only riding maybe 6 times. 42 miles long so it was a stretch of my endurance that's for sure but I held up well throughout the whole thing and was sitting in the top 4-5 wheels with less than 600 meters to go. Around the last turn into a somewhat uphill finish I quickly found that the ramping up of speed by Tim Nixon for the last 3 miles wasn't what my legs had in mind. I was in position to get in the money possibly but that finishing straight and my fitness had other plans. Ended up 15th so I wasn't upset about it and know that with some more riding I should be able to mix it up a bit more instead of surfing around in the back of pack for half the race.

As I was spectating Brian DePasse bringing home the "W" in his race (he also won the crit on Sunday) I was summoned to go to the medical tent to tend to an old Cutters teammate: yep you guessed it, Skeeter. He got cut off by some idiot in the final lap of his race and had some major road rash and a really deep gash on his chin. So after some manipulating of the medical staff and talking them out of calling an ambulance (in fear of him going into shock even though he clearly wasn't) we headed to the hospital to get him cleaned up. 4 hours and 14 stitches later I finally headed home. For those Cutters guys wondering: yes, I saw Skeeter's penis again in realtion to bike wrecks as he had a nasty gash down there but his member is just fine, no homo. Feel bad for the poor kid as he can honestly say that he's been through the ringer in terms of injuries. Even though he's banged up nothing is broken and looks as though he'll be racing again soon. Heal up quick buddy.

 Sitting in that ER room brought back some wild memories while we reminisced about "the wreck" a few years back but oddly enough it's kind of cool to reflect how close you become with your teammates and other little 5'ers over the years. I know those boys would have carried me to the hospital if need be and I could only pay my dues last Saturday and appreciate how this family is something that extends past graduation. That's what it means to be a Cutters rider though: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Or dig the cinders out...