PAULINEATOR PERSPECTIVE GAS #2

I love eating dinner twice, because I have to. I love pure exhaustion and a blank mind.

Where else besides Occidental, the heart of West County, can you mix it up with former 7-eleven Gavin, Single Speed World Champion Stella and 130 something other riders in a race simply for the hell of it? Not to mention free ...eh! Unheard of!

It is a fortunate and rare experience to race in an open class like this; to measure yourself against 130 racers in a race that proudly offers NO sags, prizes, road closures, up-grade points or other such fluff.

This year offered a bonus: Bitner and Joy. This is the beauty of the GAS. You never know what is going to come up and you must roll with it. Otherwise it will roll you.

I recall my first GAS #2 experience. Me, definitely soft around all the edges, heartily sweeping the back through floods, road closures, wind & rain, to define what is central: I GOT SOUL! That last place was a personal first place simply by finishing. It also marked that I caught the cycling disease.

This year was my fastest time yet at 4:01. It started out pretty harsh with everyone climbing away from me at elephant hill. To my surprise I felt better when I found myself behind the wheel of smooth David (from the Pink Palace) who delivered me to Wilson. Then I found myself working with whomever came along. Strangely enough, as the race went on, I felt better and better.........until the final sprint of course. It took all I had and proved worthwhile. Humorously, I placed 90th. I loved it and I worked hard for it.

Most of all I want to thank Miguel, Tera, Kim and Fisher. I also want to thank and hold true the Gianni spirit that birthed all this. & Importantly note NorCal ...> go team HOUSE!

Also, if you rode outside the double yellow YOU SUCK, get a life and consider others!

Shannon!

So, this was one of those ego-shattering rides where you dont have a lick of fun, you feel slow and out of shape, and you adopt that Id-rather-be-doing-just-about-anything-else-than-this attitudes. You may have seen a picture of me on this ride... I look like maybe Im having fun, do I not? Well, I wasnt. Despite my best efforts to coach myself into my "happy place", my happy place was nowhere to be found.

Given the opportunity, I would much rather have spent the day 1.) verifying the claim that the sheets on my bed are indeed 250 thread count by taking one-inch samples from 4 places on the sheet and pulling them apart with tweezers, under close examination with a magnifying glass 2.) filing my fingernails on the concrete pavement outside of my apartment 3.) running barefoot from Bakersfield to Fresno

I am still cranky. And my guess is, I will remain cranky for another day and a half or so� But that means that by 3 pm tomorrow� Bring it! Lets ride! I love bikes! Shannon

Katrinas Race Report

Well here I am, back at home (before sunset), licking my wounds and flushing the GU out of my system. I skipped out on yoga training today to do the Grasshopper, so I guess I get what I deserve- 5 hours of meditating alone, well, thats not totally true.

After getting detatched from the pack on Bitner, I rode along for awhile and caught up with Sheryl-Chappy in Vly. Ford while she was consulting her map "Thanks Kim"!! We rode together to the top of Dillon road where she was meeting friends, I was sad to see her go, thats for sure!

The rest of my journey was kind of bleak, I sort of remember hours of wind howling in my ears, trying to crack my spirit, and birds making fun of me- speaking of birds, I rode right next to this hawk- so close I could see his eyebrows, It occured to me he was probably going to strike because I must have smelled dead. Anyway, not much went on out there, I did see a mtn. bike guy trailing me around Freestone and he managed to catch me a couple hundred feet from town, The guy says hi and I shift to a harder gear and just hammer for all Im worth. He must have thought I was a freak! But it was a race after all.. so what if he wasnt in it!

So I slinked back to my car around 3:30 and tried to get away without being seen, but George spotted me, he came up looking very concerned, I must have looked like hell. But Im okay. And really looking forward to the next one! The end

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