The new team kit got an airing at the Knucklehead P/1/2/3. Well, I say “new team kit”; I mean it’s new to me; I’ve been a member of NEBC as long as I’ve raced on two wheels but it’s been a while since my license said “NEBC” on it. It felt odd to be back in the NEBC colors, sort of like putting on your high school varsity jacket and realizing it still fits, but that suddenly no one recognizes you anymore. Hysterical. Nevertheless, I did my best to look badass despite the amateur kit, and who knows? It may grow on me.
What didn’t get an airing was the new team bike, still in the process of being built. But it’ll be ready for when the real racing starts, and should do wonders for the level of badassitude I can project.
Marblehead is not my favorite race, but apparently the team was really stoked to do it, or at least some of the team was, or at least most of us assumed the rest of us were stoked to do it, or something. I think my main reason for not loving this race to death is that it’s a short, hard race in the early season when I’m still in long, slow mode, and also the fact that everyone just gets so damn het up about it. It is a good course, and although the locals seem to insist on parking their cars right on the course—one lady was standing in front of her car taking pix of us, bless her course-obstructing-soul—the pavement is OK and the views are great. But if they wanted to do this race right they’d give us the entire road to race on—it’s not like we don’t use it anyway. Still, we got out and raced, so mission accomplished. Let’s go have a cold one.
The sad part of the story is that the next real race is Palmer. Oh, sure, there will be Wells Aves in between, but Saturdays are committed to the NEBC clinic for the month of April, and the one good Sunday race before Palmer is the one weekend I can hang out with my daughter, so that’s out. Post-Palmer should see a real paroxysm of racing: Jiminy, Sterling, Sunapee … quality races all, plus assorted minor outings on the other days.
What about the race? Let’s just say you could tell I wasn’t that into it. ;-) That’s enough said for now.
