The In Crowd & Crushed

Barb's Triathlon Expo was pretty cool. It stared at noon, a reasonable time and I got to ride my bike and hour before hand. After a year, I am now beginning to see a couple regulars at these events. Beyond bikes seems pretty friendly; the discount store not so much. One thing I've found is that triathletes, contrary to popular opinion, are not cheap. They are high maintenance and want to ask a lot of questions before they shell out their cash. A lot of the booths seem to be discounters...

Since I had a day between expos (Sunday is folsom) I treated myself to the Patterson RR. A 100 miles road race; with a long 3 mile climb in the first 6 miles. After standing 9 hours the day before and not being a climber I had hoped to make it over in a group of 10-15 riders. Off the lead but solid. You know, like a normal race. But I am beginning to think the guys down here get so beaten down by the pro and really fast dudes (a group of 30 or went up the road on the climb) that it just doesn't occur to them to keep reacing. I mean, there were at least 40 guys behind the leaders spread out on the climb yet the best we could manage were little groups of 4. I caught 3 dudes on the decent and suggested we wait for 2 guys coming up, but they all went apeshit and started attacking on the next rise. I am not sure what the point of paying $30 to ride by yourself after 10 miles is, but that seems to be the game down here.

It was aa cool race though; I'd love to do it again. Just got to make sure I make that lead group next time.