Portland Short Track #3

Lucky # 13

I should have published this photo last week, as it was during last weeks race that I crashed, almost lost my front wheel (had to stop and tighten the skewer) and got off course requiring a reride of a section I already completed. I'm not a superstitious person, and this week the #13 worked just fine. I moved up 12 spots from last week to finish in the top 10 (10th place to be exact). The race was course was a little more technical and longer than the week before and although it was a hot night, we had a nice summer breeze that kept the temps in check.

Single speeders finished 6 laps in the 30 minute race. Each lap was about 1 mile long. I'll let you do the math on how fast that is. As mentioned earlier, the course was a bit more technical and quite a bit longer (though strangely we did the same number of laps). I managed to keep the rubber side down this week, however the same could not be said for everyone. Lots of guys were going down on the course. I removed the bar ends (that although I like) caused me problems in the last race. Also, I lowered my wheel pressure down a bit which gave me a tad more traction. Next week I might try making my gear ratio bigger (or is it smaller?) Anyway, easier.... Currently riding 36 x 18 which is a great forest park gear range. Not so great for slow flats where I need to have quick etup & go. I think.... If I have a 20 tooth rear cog I might try that instead.

Totally unrelated to bike racing, but just curious if you know what stress is. Here is a picture of stress:

My Kitchen
(actually, sheetrock was installed today, so it looks a bit better)

Actually, it does have something to do with bikes & bike racing. Kitchen remodels are stressful. They are expensive (this one is costing us 50% of what we paid for our first house!), you have to eat out a lot or devise creative ways to cook with a skillet and a microwave and if you have kids, you have to keep them from playing with/eating/etc. the insulation. The list goes on and on. Anyway, riding my bike and racing my bike seems to melt that stress away. Try it, I promise, you'll like it.