Book of fRedlands Chapter 3 Verse 1
As we are preparing to get our pre-crit. Chipotle on, Gardie called to tell us that Bill Corliss had been killed. I did not know Bill very well, but we all turned quiet and put some thought into what had happened. I thought of Bill's family, the teammate we lost last year Allan Butler, and what I am doing in this sport. I quickly realized that both of these guys loved the sport, and would want to see us race. I tried to get back into the racing mindset, but my thought and prayers were and are with their families.
On to the race, 90 minutes around a nine corner course in downtown Redlands... and it wasn't pretty. This was by a shot the worst I've ever felt in this race, and it was a struggle just to finish. Pretty much single file the whole time, and I was just dying to hold the wheel in front of me. Sat up with five laps to go as I could see gaps opening up and I just didn't have any fight left. This was pretty disappointing as I hoped to be at least somewhat competitive in this stage. It's not so much fun , for me anyway, to be in a race and not be racing; just surviving. Dis-Loyal, and Flash Gordon were pretty much hanging out near me too, although they at least kept rolling to the finish. Gardie turfed it hard in a big pile-up, destroying his fork, seat, bars, stem, and pedal... and then, there were three.
I was pretty bummed out after the race, and my heckling form was turned up a notch as that was the only fun I could muster. The host family took us out to dinner, which was incredibly generous, and one of the their kids overheard me saying I was going to "Flesh" (notorious 909 strip club) afterwards. I was kidding, but the young pup totally took me for serious. Note to self: please shut up.