tony kic

it seems like just yesterday i was stressing out about getting everything ready for the third year of our race series in the dark. then, like a tornado of extension cords, course tape, and halogen worklights, the whole mess is damn near over. feeling a little defeated last week, i began whining to joe about how after setting up, um... 13 times i think, it hasn't gotten any easier. come to think of it, i show up three of four hours earlier to start setting up and we have three times as much equipment and personnel as we did the first season. joe kindly pointed out what i've failed to recognize (as i can't seem to keep myself off the injured list long enough to enter a bike race), that the overall quality of our race is SO much better than when we started. we ain't tryin' to throw out our shoulders patting ourselves on the back or anything, but you know... he's got a point. if you thought this year was a zoo, man... the first season was way worse. it's a silly thing to try to pull off, but every week someone tracks me down to tell me how fun their race was, or how they couldn't make the weekend races for some reason and the blind date was the highlight of the week. so, even though wednesday is now known as the day i panic myself into complete exhaustion and express myself only in grunts and swearwords, don't get it twisted... i'm proud to be doing everything i can to make this as rad as i possible. it takes so much to make this work, and if any one part didn't show then none of it would fly. thanks so much to:

alpenrose... obra... bike racers... sponsors... everybody who ever stacked a cone or pulled a stake on the way back to the car...my weekend job, the mighty cross crusade, for letting us use the orange fencing... and the incomparable mr. ron strasser for running our kids race.

see candi, i used a paragraph... kinda. the weather looks sweet tomorrow night. i'm looking forward to what madison's has on the menu, and i'm hoping to borrow a bike and have our talented pro techs at 21'st ave bicycles and gracie's wrench give it a once over so the wheels don't fall off while i'm "racing". i have to hustle to the stumptown table to get some free coffee, and maybe try to fit in some quick bodywork by the talented scott ramsey, LMT. the womens B field will be the lucky recipient of the free 1.5 hr. thai massage session this week, so bring your best game, ladies. two races left, lets make'em count.
-tony and joe