8 August 2012 - 8:54Dark Horse 40

Late for my race report. Sue me.

This last weekend was my 3rd appearance at the Darkhorse 40. It’s a fun race. This time however, I was only responsible for 20 miles of the 40, as I was racing in the co-ed duo class with Ginger. When I signed up for the race, I was out in Tucson for SSAZ, and Ginger was undecided as to wether she was going to want to race or not, but I let the offer stand to spilt the race up with her. A few months after we returned to the East Coast, she had made her choice. We were going to run the race as a team. But she was still not decided as to wether or not she was going to race gears or single.

I had signed up for the expert singlespeed category, so I was semi commited to running what I brung. I made the offer to Ginger, if she raced singlespeed, I would wear a dress. She accepted.

I look good, I mean, REAL good

Now, some people might feel odd about my decision to dress up in women’s clothing, and they are entitled to their opinions. However, I grew up in a country where it is perfectly acceptable for men to dress up like the ladies.

I did it as incentive to get Ginger to ride her singlespeed, but mostly I did it because I thought it would be funny, and I didn’t get to play dress up at SSUSA as I didn’t ride.

Well, I was the only one wearing a costume. But, all the ladies thought I looked good, and I have to say, I was a lot cooler than I would have been had I been wearing my tight and brights. The dress is pretty much made out of the same stuff bike clothes are made of, only I was pretty much pretty much topless. I did have some issues with the hem snagging my saddle, but I was able to deal. In fact, my only real issue was that the bow jiggled itself untied very quickly.

So about my lap. I was overgeared. Stewart is a bit of a bastard. The singletrack is punchy, and the roads that tie it all together are flat. And I am out of shape. I probably would have been fine on my A9C with the 34/20 I picked out, but I was lugging 3 more lbs of bike with me. Which bike? The Speedwagon. More on that tomorrow… But alas I was behind my gear most of the time, and with the near 90° heat with a bizzillion % humidity, I was a hurting unit. I walked a lot of stuff I could have ridden if I had just a bit more MO. I still managed to turn in a lap time close to my goal of 1:45, and I stopped for beer twice, and water. I only had 1 bottle available to me on the bike, no place to stick a second on my hot little outfit.

When I could get speed though, I crushed. FS SS is the jam. In fact, I am not replacing my A9C at all. Nor am I selling my RDO. I will be offloading some sweet parts pretty soon though so stay tuned  for that. It just makes things so much more fun, and to not have to worry about which line to take through the rock gardens, well… Needless to say, the RDO is getting repurposed.

I tagged out with my partner, and off she went, leaving me to get changed and hang out while everyone else rode 20 more miles. Or not. Half of the WaBrah contingent pulled out after 20. For good reason too. Our crew is so banged up it isn’t even funny, and Stewart was hungry. I had a beer with DH George while getting changed at the car, and he said that about 65 had already DNF’d, and at least 3 people had been pulled from the course in bloody heaps. I was stoked for my 20, and hoped that Ginger was having a good enough time to get hers in too.

smiling is winning

Turns out, she was!

We somehow missed the protest window, which put us in 5th place. We would have had 4th had we been more vigilant, but oh well. We both had a blast, and that is all that mattered. We were still one place away from prizes, but we both know that we gave it a good solid effort.