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Four FatBoys
bravely mustered the courage to participate in what would turn out to
be a gruelling climb-fest of an XC race at the latest NSMBA/TORCC
Toonie race. The race, held August 30th, consisted of one lap
around Buntzen Lake on the "Lakeview Trail". It is
interesting to note that the so called "Lakeview Trail"
seems completely devoid of any views of any lakes whatsoever.
Arno, Paul, Steve and I showed up ready and
raring to go. We had by far, the heaviest bikes going. From Arno's
Marin (which only qualifies for inclusion here because he has big
tires, disk brakes and, well, he's Arno), Paul's Heckler, my VPS Drop
and Steve's VPS Team DH, we just oozed fatitude. "Oh yes, you XC
racers look out, for we are Freeriders!" Our plan was simple.
Finish last. Dead last. We were going to put on a performance of such
fatitude that we would become legendary. That was the plan anyway.
We started off doing great. Within 100 meters
of the start, we were solidly placed at the back of the pack.
Unfortunately we quickly caught up to Eric, who had plans of his own.
Eric was going for the perfect DFL in the Toonie race series. Oh
great, a flaw in our plan. We hadn't even considered that another
slacker would be gunning for the coveted last place. Our image of
being caught by Sharon, who would be following the racers taking down
all the flagging, signs and direction arrows was instantly burst. Damn
evil Eric. Bastard!!! The trail turned downhill and we couldn't help
ourselves...we sped ahead and dropped Eric.
The four of us pressed on, grinding our way up
the many hills, through all the tight switchback corners growing tired
and cranky. Occasionally Eric would catch up to us as we would stop at
the top of a climb, regroup and catch our breath. Whenever the trail
turned downhill, we would inevitably lose Eric...as we were mighty
freeriders! Eric would catch us at the top of the next climb
though...and so it went.
The downhills were fun, the climbs were
tolerated. There was even some dicing as I executed an almost
impossible pass on Steve in a tight switchback. I saw a little
opening, stuffed my front wheel in there and squeezed through for the
pass. Nice! After what seemed like an eternity, we hit the final
downhill...a fast ripper with a couple of super tight and I mean super
tight, switchbacks. We were soon crossing the suspension bridge and
headed for home on the gravel road that runs the length of the lake.
I brought up the idea of forming a paceline
for the final stretch, but that was quickly shot down by the others as
far to motivated and lacking in fatitude. The finish was uneventful,
as most of the competitors had already packed up and headed home.
There was no fanfare, no trophy girls for us on this night. A few
minutes later, Eric rolled in, shooting us a sly smile as only someone
who has outwitted another can do. He had come out the victor tonight,
he was truly deserving of DFL. He just wanted it more.
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