I'm sorry. Kind of.
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If you were taking a high line around the ponds on Plantation, and two crazy single speeders splashed through the middle and drenched you, I do apologize. Mostly.
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Because that was the most fun I had all day.
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I've squeaked past Brian Itzaina in a couple of previous races, but he was having none of it at Big Bear on Sunday. He got past me at the top of the first long climb, and then nipped in ahead of me onto the Plantation single track. He has great bike handling skills, so it was all I could do to hold his wheel through the turns.
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And then, we got to the swamp. The mud, the muck, the saplings, the riders parked at random next to puddles.
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We went roaring through there, with Brian taking crazy lines and me diving into the water right after him.
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At a recent race, I was poaching some shade under a vendor canopy. "Anyone sitting here?" I plopped down.
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"Hey, why do you race single speed?" someone asked. I never caught his name.
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Before I could answer, another anonymous racer quipped, "Because she's part of a freaky cult."
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I sure wasn't missing that derailleur when I was pedaling out of three feet of water up onto a slippery bank. I knew exactly what gear I was in, exactly what pressure needed to be applied to keep from spinning out.
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I rode around a gentleman I'd spent some time climbing next to. "Wish me luck!" He laughed.
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I followed Brian down the granite-y bits onto the fire road.
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He's 20. Did I say that?
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It will be a couple more decades before he signs up for the responsibilities that keep me conservative on loose descents. Ok, he's just faster, all right? He inched away.
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Earlier, while we waited for the other categories to start, I chatted with the guys in mine, Sport Single Speed.
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There is, as yet, no women's category for single speed. I don't mind too much; a first place medal when you're the only entrant is a bit tinny.
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Jason Butler, team director for SDBC's mountain division, was encouraging me regarding the upcoming national championship. Where there is a women's open category, and where I will probably be lined up with spritely teenagers, and who knows who else. There were eight women last year.
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How many will come for the 2010 contest? Betsy Shogren, east coast legend? Or maybe the defending champion, who spent a month at altitude acclimating, just for that race?
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I could take it all, and come home with a stars and stripes jersey, or I could be giving myself pep talks at the back.
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"Better to be lucky than fast," Jason offered.
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I was fast and lucky on Sunday.
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Brian snapped two teeth off his rear cog and had to walk the last mile.
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I knocked four minutes off my personal best time on that course, came in 8th out of 10. If I'd done one more US Cup series race, I'd have gotten to stand up and get the award for fifth place in the overalls for Sport Single Speed Men.
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I love Big Bear. It was the location of my first Cat 3 win, my first Cat 2 win. I'll never win racing in my current category, but in the ongoing test of wills against myself, it was a good day up there.
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Next race: USA Cycling's Mountain Bike National Championships, Granby, Colorado, July 17.
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Wish me luck, and you can be an adjunct member of my cult.
