I'm typing this with really sore legs and droopy, hazed over eyes, but
wanted to capture this snapshot in time now, with the good times and
pain still very fresh in my mind.

Friday

I take a 1/2 day off and head down to the SOC and arrive around 2pm.
After taking the lovely detour all the way around to Timbuk freakin'
218, I'm greeted by the oh so wonderful volunteer staff at the entry.
The conversation went something like this:

Me - "Hi. I'm here to check in to my campground."
Volunteer - "Uh, you got to go park first and check in."
Me - "But the campground is all the way on the other side of the park."
Volunteer - "You still got to go park and check in."
Me - "I am a registered camper - I'm in campground A."
Volunteer - "Oh, you're camping. Go ahead."

I had almost the identical conversation with the next volunteer I was
stopped by 100 feet later. Oi. Calgon take me away...

Anyhow, so I made it in and went to check into the campsite. Ran into
the SOC media big wig and we talked for a bit. Then got my stuff and
headed up to camp.

We didn't get the standard sites we have gotten in the past - nice tree
lined sites. No these were basically flat spots large enough for two
cars and tents. But there was one spot underneath the trees that Matt
L. and I grabbed. First come first served, last come last don't get
none.

I set up the tent and thought, great, I'll head to the expo to meet up
with some of my blog friends (associated with Velo Bella). But had to
distribute some of the suh-weet 2006 TWW garb. Unfortunately it
started to sprinkle some so I had to sort through the stuff in my tent.
Not fun. After about an hour I got 4 people's orders filled. I
needed a wall to bang my head on.

Went down to the VB booth and finally got to meet Sabine as well as
Lulu Bella, Miss Mary, Pab, XBunny, and Jeni. Dawn was there too so I
can cross off one New Year's resolution - to see Dawn more than once.
Good stuff. We stayed there until they closed down the shop - Matt C.
brought down a bunch of our Moose Drool and assorted accoutrements and
shared the wealth with some of the VB's. Was wondering if we was going
to save any stuff for us.

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/life-at-vb-tent.html

Afterwards, the two Matts and I headed down to Monterey to grab some
grub. We found this great Mexican restaurant and chowed. Hard to beat
homemade tortillas and nice greasy carnitas. Life was good.

We then built the most pathetic fire (thanks mostly to Jeff - nice
magnesium fire starter BTW - hope you never need to use it). Bunch o'
BS around the fire and off to bed.

Saturday

Volunteer day. In theory, sounds pretty cool - free race entry,
t-shirt, lunch, and front row seats to the dual slalom. Well, almost
11 hours later, let's just say I was not so happy. You can be certain
I won't be doing that again. But I did get to run some people off the
course and fix the dang gate that kept getting knocked over. I
promised myself however that I would not be the typical a-hole
volunteer. I think I accomplished my mission.

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/we-have-power.html

The dual slalom action was pretty cool, and we as course marshals were
literally a few feet away from riders. These were the semi-pros and
pros. But after awhile, it was a bit redundant. These folks were so
skilled that little needed to be done - unlike with the amateur racers
the day before who had their shoes sucked off by the mud and were
crashing all over the place.

During a break we went and watched the Pro short track race. Of
course, we gathered where everyone else was at - and you know what that
means - carnage spot. There was this nasty mud pit at the top of the
course and then a tricky S-turn descent (also a mud pit). Riders were
flying over the handlebars left and right. I have to admit that
Gunn-Rita Dahle-whatever looked damn good faceplanted in the mud
(really, in a good way). She learned from her mistake though and ran
it every time after that and totally dominated. I got a few pictures
and posted them near real time on the blog via the mobile blogger. The
pro men were wiping out too. One guy basically tipped over and his
face literally planted into the mud. Looked like he just finished the
Paris Roubaix.

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/mudfest.html

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-mudfest.html

After the shift was finally over we took off back to camp and hung out
for a bit. More jersey distribution and then off to the free pasta
feed sponsored by ICCC. Good stuff as usual and nice people. No hard
sell or anything. Just sharing the good vibes.

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/tww-at-pasta-feed.html

I had bought a $30 propane BBQ to use to grill stuff at the campsite.
Several of us enguhneers assembled it but everyone was stuffed so we
didn't use it. It would come in handy later ...

Mr. Sherlock started a nice fire and we all sat around and BS'd more.
Matt L. was melting his shoes and didn't realize it. "But my feet
weren't getting hot." Yeah but we were dying from the toxic fumes
being emitted by the melting rubber.

http://teamwrongway.blogspot.com/2006/04/fire-good.html

Off to sleep - fortunately I didn't hear Matt L's phone ring at 1am so
I wasn't upset with his drunk wife for calling.

Sunday

Race day. Alarm goes off at 6am. This sucks. It's cold and I'm
tired. Whine, whine, whine. A little food, the BBQ used for a heater,
some Leg Salsa, and all was good. Well, more like okay, but it wasn't
like I was going to win anyhow.

Matt L. was the first to start, so off he went after some time on the
trainer. His goal was to not let Loren pass him (he had a 5 minute
head start on Loren). Unfortunately, this didn't happen but he still
had a good time (beat my sorry a$$ by like 18 minutes). 1:40ish

Loren ripped it up and took 7th in a super competitive category - Sport
Men 30-34. Nice job. Guess it helps to get your front derailleur
mucked up and not be able to shift out of the big ring. 1:34ish.

Allan was our favorite in the Sport SS class. He didn't disappoint,
taking a nice 12th place against a bunch of people sandbagging who did
not but should probably be doing two laps. Particularly the kid who
was spinning a 42x16. 1:39ish.

Michel after doing Expert SS in the CCCX series decided to be one of
those sandbaggers and just do a single lap. He said he didn't feel
great, but still turned in a nice time. 1:45ish

Matt C. was just caught by Allan near the end. He hasn't been training
a whole lot but he did bring all the Moose Drool so he's good for
something (kidding you know). He'll get back at it soon (unless there
is woman to muck things up like it appears may be - meeting the mom
already? Serious stuff dude. Good idea keeping her from meeting us.).
2:15ish

Bob said he had a good race. Even after sounding like a really old man
on the DS volunteer day (turn down that music... they play all this
crappy music... get off my lawn you crazy kids... blah, blah, blah),
it sounded like he did well. He thought he did a 2:05+/-.

My race, well, after doing my blood undoping about 3 weeks ago, my
expectations changed drastically. Initially, I wanted to finish in the
top half of the class. But since I felt like I haven't trained in
months and did a three week taper, now the goal was to finish and have
fun. I accomplished both and did a sub-2 hour lap (1:58ish). I wore
the infamous sombrero on my helmet too. Should be plenty of those
photos circulating around soon.

Race conditions were perfect and the course was pretty cool. With the
exception of a few mud bogs, it held up well. I was duking it out with
a woman SSer... I'd pass her, she'd pass me, and so on, and so on. I
managed to ride every climb except that one longish uphill singletrack
grunt. Then up the goat trail I couldn't keep up and didn't see her
again until the finish and I congratulated her for spanking me (not the
way I like). I suffered like a mother up Skyline - on the initial
steep climb, both of my legs locked up and I couldn't straighten them
out. I wanted to get off the bike but couldn't without tipping over so
I pedaled with my legs bent at probably a 45 degree angle standing up
mashing up this hill. As Bob Roll would say, "he's deep into the hurt
locker." But I made it and the 3km sign was such a wonderful sight to
see.

One of the highlights of my race was shortly after this at the
singletrack at the very end. I tucked in behind a tandem and we ripped
it up. They were hauling and I never had to slow down (except at the
sharp right hand uphill leading to the track). People were screaming
for me to pass them there, but I knew that I wanted to suck on their
wheel on the track as long as I could. I kept in their draft until the
last corner when they motored away on the straightaway. It was cool
and we talked about the synergy we shared on that last section. Nice.

So despite a smaller than normal turnout by TWW racers (um, Rich, where
were you?), it was a successful weekend. Three TWWers (Jeff, Isaias,
and Jason) were doing the Expert class (two laps) and didn't start
until after 1pm. So hopefully all went well with their races. Oh, and
I spoke with Schlachter and he did do the DH race despite Old Lady
Seery trying to scare him away. Sounded like he got a top 10 finish in
the Expert DH/CX race (I'll let Scott elaborate more on that).
Nationals here we come! Chalk up another fun SOC for TWW!


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