When shipping my bike from Texas, TSA decided to repack it for me resulting in a damaged and unrideable frame. The good folks at Bountiful Bike set me up on a new Tarmac frameset from the local Specialized warehouse, but between the added cost and the unfamiliar bike, II came into the race pretty bummed. In the end, I had the best experience of my 3 consecutive Rockwells. Cory was an absolute pleasure to ride with, and in fact we attempted to help him stay connected to the train a few times. I hope to ride with him again some day.

My only regret this race is that I couldn’t breathe long enough to consume your pizza handup!

Oh, it would suck to discover your bike was ruined en-route. Sorry man. That said, If I’m remembering the bike you raced on correctly, you’ve got to be pretty excited about your new ride; that was a gorgeous bike + setup.

As far as the pizza handup, well…you could’ve slowed down enough to eat it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that was the whole idea. – FC

I propose a duel. Not with pistols, but a head to head 50 mile time trial. THAT I would travel to see.

I’m in. But if he is faster than I am, does that mean I proved my point, or that he proved his? – FC

You’re right, Team Dad failed on the lights. I did ask everyone if they had a helmet, shoes, and ID because everything else is optional. All of the team didn’t know about the light until your blog, Danny kept that quiet. I really took it more casual this year. I never looked at teams, never Strava Stalked anyone or anything of the sort. We just planned to do our race and see what happens. It wasn’t until Friday morning I even knew how many coed teams because I asked you. And I’ll say it again, this was probably the most fun this year because of the friendly competition and great weather.

I should try taking a race casual sometime.

But I bet I never do.

- FC

I’m not too proud to say I had to look “So much drama in the LBC” up.

Poon

Admittedly, the ego in me wants to accept the domestique label you choose to give me. I am a very competitive bike racer, fairly confident in my abilities, especially this season — in fact, the week leading into this event, I managed to win the weekly criterium race on Wednesday in a field of 25 or so. I wanted to ride hard and ride strong this weekend. “Team Dad” Troy expected it. But I also knew the reality — I was paired with Marci — so I tempered that confidence and kept it in check with reality. My previous experience riding with Marci has taught me to be nervous — very nervous.

There were parts of Rockwell where I managed to be a reasonably good servant to my small climbing companion on the road — the flatter parts of Leg 2, where we hammered through the rollers. Yes, Marci did receive some benefit from me on occasion. The reality was that I wasn’t much help to her for much of the rest of the ride, despite my many attempts. I trailed behind Marci for the majority of the climbing, and seemed to get a bit too far ahead of her on the longer descents, with a few very brief exceptions. Yes, I absolutely had my racing hat on, and in some parts, used my tactical prowess to intimidate and prevent counter moves, honestly because it was the easy thing to do, not because it was providing much benefit (sitting in on a wheel, for instance, is much easier than launching an attack). From that standpoint, I was a fantastic ally to my teammate, and perhaps in those short-lived moments, I sufficiently earned the “domestique” title. I will happily take the credit — after all, it is a badge of honor for one to be strong enough to be one for a rider like Marci.

You cited a quote above (supposedly from me) that will appear in a future post where I say to The Hammer “Well, my job is done; I’ve caught Marci up to you”, and I’m anxiously awaiting to read when this took place — my memory recalls a distinctly different set of events. I assure you that if any words were muttered, they were surely separated by gasps between (gasp) each (gasp) word, and that the words had more to do with my joy, that perhaps the pain that Marci was inflicting on me would let up now that The Hammer had been caught once again. I will elaborate the details of my perspective of events when we get there in the story.

-B

I’ll look forward to your continued color commentary. For absolutely realsies, thanks for taking the time to write your perspective! – FC