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Vacancy is a better way to put it. Man have I been out of the loop the past 4 weeks. So far out in fact that I had to consult my training log to find out when I was last on a trail bike.....September 9th to be exact. That morning I was on my SS at Maybury with Tim Storm and Brian McCabe. I flatted the first lap and had to walk back to the car for a tube. Once back to the car I had lost intrest in riding that morning, pulled my beach chair out, turned the car radio on and waited for Tim and Brian to come back. My Kona was in process of getting new tires from a sidewall blow out the previous week. Brian had loaned me his rear wheel of the Giant to race the Relay and I gave it back a few days later figuring I'd have my wheels back by then. I was kind of done with flats that morning and decided to chill for while in the morning sun.

Well, here we are 4 weeks later and my Kona is still upside down in the basement without a rear wheel. Gerry had laced a new set of tires on for me weeks ago only to have the rear one go flat and lose it's seat that afternoon in the car. I gave it back to him because I couldn't get it to sit again. He has yet to solve the issue and in the mean time I have been spending a lot of alone time with my road bike. As it turns out tho I really haven't had time to ride on the trail anyway and Gerry has been busy as well. I don't blame him at all for my lack of trail miles....I told him I was in no rush to get it back. But hopefully I will have it back by Monday because I'dlike to get out and ride the trail once before the Triple Trail Challenge on September 13th.

Yes Brian and I plan to go out and attempt a 50 mile ride on the 13th. It's the only day of the year that certain sections of trail are open to bikes in that area. We don't plan to try and ace it. Just plan to have fun, enjoy the cooler weather and take it all in.

More importantly I want to say I missed the big write up of the Maybury/Pontiac weekend. I had a lot going on so I was not able to make either race but even finding time to write about it was hard. So I apologize to all who raced, especially Jeff because he pulled off a win in the Men's Expert 30-39 at Pontiac that Sunday. That's not an easy thing to do. I guess he was in 3rd or 4th going into his third and final lap of a 30 mile race and just all of a sudden woke up and tore up the trail on that last loop. Wish I could have been there with him. His inspirational third lap may have pulled me up the podium. Oh well, we will never know, but a big Congrats to Jeff for his second Tailwind XC Series race win of the year. For those keeping track he won the XC Stage on the second day of the Brighton Stage Race beating out some stellar competition. This does bring up a question tho: Will Jeff Socia go Elite next season?

This weekend is the last Tailwinds XC race for 2008. Hard to believe it's already here. Haven't got the complete list of racers confirmed for this weekend but check back next week. Hopefully I won't slack anymore and get back in the game.

Keep air up in your tires and your fingers off the brakes, this weekend's venue is a fast course.

Aryn

Storming the Fort

Sadly only two of our crew made the trip for the Time Trial at Fort Custer last weekend. But Gerry and Heather managed to con someone into joining our team. They even had a jersey for her to wear. Who is this girl? All I know is her name is Kathryn Junes and she kicked butt in the Sport Women 25-39 Class. She placed 3rd out of 7 with a time of 1:23:17. Yep, she knows how to collect the hardware. Welcome to the team Kathryn!!! I keep telling everyone we have some fast chics and Kathryn can back up my smack talk so she's okay by me.

Next up, our featherweight favorite, Hollywood Patterson. It was business as usual for Heather in the Women's Expert/Elite Category. Go to the race, kick some ass, beat half the men out there and then have a chicken sausage. Heather took second, losing first by 0.908 seconds (yes that decimal is in the right place). Her finish time was 1:12:06.393 and Chenoah's time was 1:12:05.485. The two of them smoked the rest of the class by 4 minutes. With that second place tho Heather finished the TT series 4th overall which is great in my opinion for her first year in Expert/Elite. Great job Hollywood!!!

For our Captain it was business as unusual in Sport 40-49. He decided to race his Giant with the new Stans Crow tires that he had only tested once earlier in the week. I am not going to argue with him..I built a bike the night prior to the Tree Farm Relay and raced it untested. Sometimes you just need to go with your gut right? Well Captain Terror went with his gut feeling before the race and mounted the wheels with the Crow tires.....while downing a ham sandwich and a beer (his new pre-race ritual) Well the combination of birds, pigs and brew seem to work for our highly undecorated leader. He handed out a good old fashion butt whoopin' to his class - 1st out of 10 -with a time of 1:09:08.866!!! Lets all give him a pat on the back net time we see him. Great work Captain!!! I'd also like to point out he beat a Team Active racer by over 10 seconds. For those who don't know the Fort is Team Active's home course. (But don't tell them the Fort is the Capatin's home away from home)

So that's 3 riders and 3 medals. We may have not have sent the entire calvary out to the Fort for battle but the ones who showed up were riders who could get the job done and step up to the podium. Again, welcome Kathryn and great job the 3 Musketeers who braved the Fort.

Also like to give a shout out to Joey "The Kid" Patterson. I heard he ripped it up out there on the kids course for the Specialized Kid's Race. Hopefully I will be able to get Ashton out to Pontiac and Stony so Joey can have some team company at the starting line.

This week the team moves back east for the Matybury TT on Saturday and the Pontiac XC on Sunday. Unfortuntaely I will not be able to attend either of these but I'll be ready to recap come next week. So as always, check back to see how we faired.