Fatguy Roller Pic of the Week - 02/13/2009

Howdy Ho Everybody!

I'm back.

Well, I'm late with the post and truthfully I shot this on Monday the 16th and not Friday the 13th.

I may not look it, but I am in fact in the best shape I have ever been in for a February since 1999. Maybe better, I don't know. In 1999 there was no C race at Tradezone, but the B race then was a 4/5 race like the C race is now and I think the riders were tad slower then too.

I can see that I'm gaining lot of tone everywhere but in the middle. My legs are really shrinking! The middle is getting more obvious as I shrink overall. First on, last off is the cruel rule of weight loss. I think I'll still have a gut even when I reach my goal weight of 175 pounds.

I rode the C race at Tradezone on Sunday the 15th and I had a great time. I didn't do squat but ride the bike and sit in the wheels and stay out of the wind. So basically it was a 17 dollar group ride with 45 strangers and other teammates. Going into it I wasn't sure what to expect as far as pace and how I would handle it. I havn't raced there since the 2006 Turkey Day Cat 4 race and I got dropped 1/2 way thru it. I was in bad shape mentally that summer, so I didnt expect much. The last full race finish I had there was 2005 Turkey Day Cat 4 race. That was the year I lost 60 lbs. The first time.

Back to yesterday. After about 5 laps, I had no doubt I would finish all 16 with the group. I never felt like I was gonna be dropped. There was a time or two where I felt like stopping, my legs were like two bags of cement, but I never thought I was gonna be spit out. On the last lap I was just so glad to not have gotten dropped that I felt like my work was done and sat up. Thanks to wooden legs, I had nothing to contest the sprint with and well, it's a training race. I seem to have bad luck sprinting for inconsequential shit, like training races and group rides. I'll save it for when my season really starts in April. If I'm gonna go out in a blaze in a sprint crash, by gum, it'll be someplace cool like Wilmington or Reston. Not fracking Tradezone. Well not Reston either. I just remembered I'm gonna be a moto ref at that race again.