2018 Shorty #1

[Philip Mooney]

Yesterday was the first of the 6 consecutive Wednesday night races that make up the Shortys, and it was awesome. This event is fun for the whole family, and a perfect way to spend a beautiful evening in Marin. I pulled up with my 19 month old daughter to a lively crowd and fun music booming out of the speakers on the hill atop McInnis Park around 4:45pm. I had packed her scoot bike and a picnic dinner, and we had a blast riding around park, meeting the doggies, and watching all of the middle school racers slam the pedals for 3 laps around a fun course. It's great to see so many kids out there shredding on bikes!

Around 6pm my wife showed up directly from work, and I was able to quickly get ready and hop on my bike to attempt to squeeze in a quick warm up before the race. Note to future self: it takes longer than 20 minutes to warm up for a race that goes crazy hard from the start! I was signed up to race the A category, which was populated by a fun mix of fast high school racers and grizzled old veterans. We had a great group of 19 folks racing the A's.

Team Acme was very well represented in the field, with 5 of us taking the start. With 5 out of 19 starters, one would think that Acme team tactics would dictate the race...but nothing could be further from the truth. All I want is to smash smash those guys to bits, and they all feel the same way. We all spent the half hour before the race talking trash and trying to get in one another's heads.

We all knew Gibson had been doing secret training despite his protestations that he's been "busy at work". He didn't look like he'd been "busy at work" when he was dropping the hammer right off the line! And then the always self deprecating Greg, who always compliments everyone else for looking so fit as he flexes his ripped Schwarzenegger-esque arms. Hey Greg, you don't pedal with your arms, and no I will not accept your challenge to do a push up competition! Mark and Gavin looked as skinny and fit as ever while they poked my dad-bod belly and asked how I liked the cookies at the registration tent, thinking about how they would punish me on the climb that defines each lap of the course. After all the trash talk, we all were geared up to try and smash one another. It's every man for himself!

We were joined by a whole handful of other folks, some I knew from years past and some new faces as well. A couple of the super fast San Rafael High guys I help coach showed up. The silent-assassin, Santi, was at the start, fresh off his 2nd place finish at the NorCal race last weekend. We also had Rollin' Robot Robert Raffo with us, with his killer competitive fire masked behind a quick smile and easy laugh. Robert, we're on to you. We all know that when you smile at us you're actually plotting our demise. Those 2 knew some dudes from other high schools, including Jacob and Blair. I introduced myself to them, and they immediately told me they had been battling and besting Santi most of the season, so I knew they'd be fast. Little do they know that Santi and I have been doing some secret training of our own, and they're going to be toast at States in a few weeks! They also asked me if I was going to beat them in the race, which I thought was a weird question to ask before the race even started. In answer, I took off my gloves, started at the lines on my palm, and read them my findings. "My palm reading tells me to expect immense suffering in my future." They looked at each other, and slowly backed away from me to go back to talking with their friends.

Oh yeah, Peter Vaughn was there too. I was glad to see him riding dirt. And Dean Poshard, who probably doesn't know me but I've heard his name forever because he rides cool custom steel bikes in very large sizes. And the Roaring Mouse himself, Mark Peterson. And some other dudes I don't know yet. 

The race started with a bang. That's not really true, it actually started with Jimbo counting down from 5 with a stochastic cadence meant to keep us on our toes. "All right guys. 5...4...Are you ready to race? Don't go until I say go. But not this time I say go, the next time...3.2...............1 and GO!" It went something like that.

We started and Dean and MG went faster than me. I stayed close to them. When we got to the paved climb I went up it fairly hard to catch up to Dean. Then he slowed down on the steep final ramp and I didn't so then I was alone. I descended down to the pavement and went really hard up it. After that I rode steady to the end, enjoying hearing my wife and daughter and mother laughing and cheering on the sidelines. I won and watched some great battles as guys finished, including a 6 man race to the line! That was exciting. Robert and Mark Gibson had a great battle for 2nd and 3rd, with MG gapping Robert on the descents and Robert catching back up on the climbs. Eventually one of MG's gaps stuck, and they soloed in for 2nd and 3rd.

Unfortunately I missed out on a lot of the after race banter as I was on the phone with AAA to get a jump start for Grandma's car. Good thing there are 5 more races left! Maybe some more A racers will show up in the next few weeks?!? Tell your friends and let's keep racing hard!