Dartmouth Cycling Wiki | Profiles / Drag Racing In The Port Of Oakland

After bothering Toby for so long, he finally wrote a race report. here it is:

" In a nutshell I went kind of fast for half of the first day, and then kind of slow for the rest of the weekend. The first day was sweet though, since I was ahead of Mccormack at the start. I said "damn im pro" and then proceeded to attack hard, backwards. (ed note: I am one of the pioneers in the backwards attack. Second oldest trick in the wompatuck book)

I really suffered on the second day. especially since it was really twisty and turny.

I kept the [u23 verge series leader] jersey though, which was kind of easy since the second place guy (jesse anthony) didnt even show up on Saturday. Or because you look at a guy like me, and you see dedication, and what it takes to do the whole full-time pro athlete thingy. (ed note: it isn't pro to use the word "thingy")

Other highlights of the weekend: - Rudy beat Lynn Bessette. But Rudy has bad gas, and Lynn looks much better in a skinsuit. So who's the real winner? - Jen did well both days. (ed note: so pro fo sho) - we all cuddled and watched greys anatomy on Saturday night - An hour ago, I ate 4.5 cubic meters of Ben and Jerrys ice cream in one sitting. I have a problem. "

I'll start off with a quote. Here is the ex-pro Aitor Gonzalez, talking about the Puerto case on cyclingnews:

"Many people do not understand that the cycling is like a disease," says Aitor González. "When you compete, your organism deteriorates, and to be able to maintain healthful analytical values, it is necessary to help the body; that is, a rider who finishes the Tour without any medical aid, finishes it ill; with values of testosterone like a woman; with anaemia and a series of pathological symptoms."

I find this comment interesting. If he's telling the truth, it kind of blows to have to dope just to maintain baseline physiological levels. It seems like that removes all the fun of doping, like having blood so thick you have to get up in the middle of the night and exercise so that your heart doesn't stop. More seriously, are you really doping if you're just trying to stay healthy while doing the job you're paid to do? Aren't you using the drugs for the purposes that they were designed for (even if the cause of the symptoms is a bit unusual)?

Ok, back to me. Guess what I've been doing? Biking. Un-fucking-believable. Finally got my powertap hub fixed today (new cartrige bearing on non-drive side, new cone and bearings on drive side). The hub rotates now, which is nice. Ride-wise, I didn't get out until 6pm. But, you say, it's dark and cold at that hour. Well, it was 60 degrees out, so it wasn't cold. And it wasn't dark, because I was doing the tuesday night crit series. The racing is held on a 2.5 mile loop within the port of oakland. The roads are all lit with floodlights, and there is no traffic at that time at night, so it's perfect for racing. 70 people will show up in the summer, but this being a) the winter and b) raining outside, there were only 10 of us. Still a good time.

rock out, matt