Frenchy Fuqua

I’ve waited to tell my Lower Allen story mainly to let my disappointment subside. I wanted to do well, just like any and every week, but, considering this is my hometown race held just 2.5 miles from my front door, this one was a bitter pill to swallow.

No points = no call-up. No worries. Only 50(??!!) B’s showed up so starting up front would have helped but not near as much as an 80 or 90 field like we saw at Charm and Granogue. Last year I started at least 50 deep and just picked dudes off all race long to finish 14th. Not a bad plan to stick with this year. I had a good start. I tucked in and followed The Really Fast Young Dude’s wheel for the first lap. Not a bad place to be. There wasn’t a ton of separation after one lap.

Lap two after the barriers on the way over to the pits two dudes in front of me were side-by-side and both bobbled and slowed opening a gap between the two. I darted through them, aggressively but certainly not in a dirty fashion. One of the riders thought I wronged him in some way and sprinted to catch me and proceeded to tell me, in these exact words; “I will beat the F-ing shit out of you if you ever touch me again! I don’t care if we’re racing or not!” OK. Keep in mind we’re in the second lap battling for 25th spot in a weekend B cyclocross race. He rode for Wissahickon. I don’t know for certain who it was but I know it wasn’t Chris, Adam, or Eric. Whatever. It was pretty much the most ignorant thing I’ve ever had spoken to me. I wanted to confront the dude after the race but with that kind of anger you never know what sort of shiv he could have wielded at me. Whatever.

Anyway, half a lap later in one of the zig-zaggy off-camber turns a different dude crashed immediately in front of me. I was setting up to pass him so I was probably closer to him than I should have been. He lost his edge and I went down and ran over him and then his bike which separated me from my bike in a flying sort of fashion only to land chest first on his now vertical facing front wheel. It knocked the air right out of me. You couldn’t have placed that wheel in a more perfect spot to do exactly what it did. I could only lay there and try to collect myself. I could barely move. I heard some grumpy racers trying get through yelling about blocking the way but I was pretty dazed. It seemed like minutes but I got up and checked myself and then my bike and got going again and realized that I could still catch some people but after a lap of riding around I was just totally out of it.

This is the first time I dropped out of a race. Made especially hard by the fact that this was the first race my Mom and little nephew DJ have attended and the countless other family and friends showing up to cheer. I was pretty bummed. All I have to show for it is a bruise on my chest about a foot long in the perfect shape of a CX tire. I guess we all have days like this, I just wish mine could have been somewhere else.

The Elite race was as good as I thought. I caught up with Matt beforehand to chit chat. I met him up at Serotta back in March. He mentioned that he’s selling his bike shop to concentrate fully on racing. Interesting to hear a 23 year old say he’s selling his business to race bikes full time. I hope he does well. He had decent results on the road this season and is certainly doing well this fall. 3rd place at LA and another win at HP following his win last weekend up in New England.

Leech had a nice race. Nate was pretty happy. Horner is funny to watch. Totally cruising and then gets to the barriers and looks like a mediocre ballerina doing little hops across the dance floor. It was cool to see him race. KHam badly sprained his ankle warming up and had to DNS. Sissy. VisitPaRay was good again in the B’s.

Mike felt pretty good about Saturday’s event. I haven’t heard anything but praise. Every year he seems to improve upon an already fantastic event. Nice job. Legendary.

I did abso-freakin-lutely NOTHING Sunday. Erin’s parents came over for some Football and dinner. The Steelers v Saints game was pretty damn entertaining. The Steelers running back, Willie Parker, nearly broke the team record for yards in a game held by? Our man, Frenchy. What a great name. I then grilled some turkey burgers w/ mushrooms, bacon, and swiss. A side of sweet potatoes and some baked beans. That was it. Day over.

I had another phenomenal massage this morning. I had to point out the two giant bruises on my right thigh to Deb so she could be a little cautious. Man, they hurt.

Chris mentioned that he’s seen a picture(s) of my crash. If I can find it I will certainly post it here as I’m sure it’s pretty amusing.