Brush With Greatness

or

Speed by Association

Last night we went to a party hosted by Craig and Laura Webb. The Webbs have a beautiful house in Dimondale and they are "bike people." They are also fast. Laura was the 5th woman to finish Iceman last fall and Craig finished 20th overall in a field of 2268 riders. I have to admit I was having some feelings of inferiority because not only was everyone else there significantly skinnier than me, I think most of them were bike racers and about 500 times faster than me. I only had three cocktails because I had to drive us home later, but even so, I found myself making wild pronouncements about what I wanted to do with my burgeoning mountain bike career. One example is: "I'd like to do Lumberjack before I die." I also started spouting off about how we were going to try a short endurance event this summer. Of course, Laura wanted to know what a "short" endurance event is, since that appears to be an oxymoron. I said we were going to start with a six-hour event, as opposed to jumping right into a 24-hour. I guess the more people I tell about my plans, the more likely it will be that I hold myself to it.

We actually had a really good time except for the fact that I was dragging pretty bad for the last hour or so since it was well past my bedtime. It was fun meeting Laura for the first time. When we left, she even told me to call her if I wanted to ride mountain bikes. I thought it was kind of funny because she would be miles ahead of me, but I thought it was nice of her to offer.

I was hoping I would get faster just by being around all those fast people, but I don't think that's very realistic. I do know one thing, I really enjoyed the social aspect of hanging out with people who are into bike racing and I really enjoy the riding. The only thing left is to see if I enjoy the racing. (I know I enjoy cyclocross racing, but mountain bike racing will be scarier.) I know I'm not ready yet, but I'm very excited for spring and the first race.

The evening culminated with a game called "killer" which involves tons of people and a pool table. Chris took some photos. There's only one of me since I didn't play killer. I'm sitting on the couch with our friend Dirk.