'Sup,

      First off, I would like to thank Allen and Peter for putting up with my nonsense, Allen for picking me up and driving me to and from the race. I would also like to thank Kathleen (aka mom) for paying for my race.

      Who said it would rain all day in Angwin? It was beautifull out there! Anyway when Allen, Peter and I got to the "Angwin College" and gotten our numbers we were gonna preride the course. So thought I would tag along to see the course for myself. I'm extremly glad I did. If you were there you know what it was like. If not, think of riding your bike through huge pits of clay. It's that bad. I had mud caked on my derailers, chain and everything else you could think of. Mud also layered onto my tire at least a half inch thick making it much harder to ride. I think the biggest fear around was chain suck. As bad as the section sounds...well yeah, it's that bad.

      My start was good, (or at least the first 100 feet of it), and the one person I had my mind set on staying ahead of was gone quicker than you can say "Napa Valley Dirt Classic." At first I thought "Okay I'll catch him when I'm a bit more warmed up, which shouldn't take too long, never does." by the time I got to that horrible section with the clay like mud, that kid was no where in sight. So instead I made catching him the main goal of my race. For the meantime I would focus on the people around me and the course ahead.

       I hammered through the sticky mud section, and flew down the following hill almost loosing control. All through that first part where you're down lower was really fun just powering by those who were having troube in the mud. For me, I ran a pair of "WTB Mutano Rapters" and thought that they worked great in the mud. Can any one give me a second opinion on them? The three "whoopdi doo's" were a blast, but a mess for me. I wasn't ready for the first one, so I didn't quite make that one. The next two I was prepared for and I made them.

       Later on through some single track I was driven off the trail by these two guys who seemed in such a rush to pass me just to fall off not five feet ahead. All I could think was "Damn when I catch you, which I will, I'm gonna do to you what you did to me." I caught up to him later and decided that it wasn't worth it to drive him off the trail so I passed him and thought that would be enough, (for now).

      The climb that never seems to end, (until you reach the top that is), was great. I climbed more than half of it and one of the most memorable moments in my life was passing Doug on the climb. For my favorite part of the race, it would have to be when this little girl I went by said, "Good job, This is the last hill."What I really liked watching was the unicycle rider finish.

       I had an end finish time of 2:11 and placed last but got a gold metal for first. ,':-)

      

              Thanks again Allan for driving and Peter for putting up with me.

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"( . Y . )"
Patrick Meyer

P.S. Allan, next time accept mom's money and just discretley give it to me. :-)