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 Keyesville 2006, a lesson in humility...
Keyesville. My home course. Today I will finally podium after 6 years of steadily getting closer and closer. Or so I thought! I line up right in the middle hoping to get a good line on the sharp left hand turn about 50 yards down the course. Jim the director counts us down and what do you know, I get a clean clip in, 4-5 hard cranks and I'm around the bend and in the lead! For about a half mile. Then STP comes by me...he says "Hey Jim, STP from SOCALMTB!" or something like that and I mumble some unintelligible anaerobically induced reply. Mark Giddings, the eventual winner is right behind STP as they pass me before a fairly flat sandy road. I'm gassed already and they're pulling away, crap! I manage to recover slightly and start to try to bridge the 400 yd gap they've put on me by the end of the first fire road climb into the rolling s/t section.
I start into the s/t and now my local cross hammerhead friend Jim Pappe is right behind me. He asks where we are and I tell him 3 and 4 and he says let's go get 'em. I put down a massive 15 second effort and tell him to go, I'm maxed! I manage to keep the gap to STP the same through the rest of the lap with Pappe the cross dude bridging up to STP before the big fire road climb after the dh off the top. I'm ok I tell myself, I'll try to bridge to STP and Pappe by the first fire road climb on our second lap. I feel myself sneaking up on them until STP looks back and DAMN! he puts in another killer effort, putting 75-100 more yards on me again. Somewhere Pappe passes STP and now I'm looking at third place only 300-400 yds in front of me for the first half of our last lap. I manage to get a little closer to STP in the rollers off the top on the dh and then we're at the last fire road climb and the evil 75 yd left turn straight up from hell! I granny myself as fast as I can and I can see the gap getting smaller and smaller. STP crests the evil climb and I'm only 50 yds back! Here we go, I thought, I'll get him here! Right. I turn the right hand corner to see STP hammering with another 300-400 yd gap on me and now I'm crying. I'm done. STP pulls away and he's out of sight and I'm buried and resigned to 4th place, or so I thought! I get to the last rolling s/t section and there's cross man Pappe fixing a flat off to the left side of the trail. Oh man, I'm in 3rd now I think to myself as I dig deep to finish strong on the last mile and a half. I cross the line going shoulder to shoulder with a singlespeeder and we have a good laugh as I sit back and think that 3rd place isn't so bad.
I go get some warm clothes on and sit in the sun with my wife and sons giving me attaboys for finishing 3rd and chatting with STP about the race when they post results. My wife goes to check them and comes back to tell me I got 4th! WTF? Some racer from The Chicken Ranch had finished 9 seconds ahead of me! So, I resign myself to one spot off the podium and gripe and moan for the next 2-3 hours as we sit and watch the experts,semi-pros and pros race. Knocked off the podium by a phantom Chicken Rancher...sheesh! I met Crossmax, Papisimo, and got to spend a lot of time talking with STP. Thanks for coming up and racing, guys! Maybe next year will be my year, if STP decides to stay home...!

Posted by ScarryFast a 40 year old Die-hard Enthusiast riding a 2001 Stumpy Pro/2003 Titus Switchblade from Bakersfield on 03/20/06
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