Triple Crown etc.

Yesterday was the second day of the Triple Crown. The race was in downtown Reading, which happens to be a pretty ghetto area. I did this race last year too, and both years I've been slapped by the face by the stark juxtaposition of us, the cyclists, next to the residents. The two crowds are about as polar opposite as it can get. Some Readingers, in particular, I'll never forget.

The women's race was hard, but it went well for me. I rode really strong, like top 10 the whole race, and ended up getting 15th. I think we dropped about 45 girls, but you can count for yourself. After my race, I sat with Snow, Kacey, and Yukie to watch the pro men. The men were doing circuits, so they came by once about every 10 minutes. In between times, we sat on the curb and people-watched. Every so often, we'd see someone particularly interesting.

"Take a look at that woman to the right. No, farther to the right, next to the tree..."

Most of the time we pulled the shifty-eyed thing, looking, but trying not to stare. Usually, the people in question were just women dressed in outrageous clothing. Platform heels on monstrous women, butts hanging out, bellies hanging out, pregnant women smoking...you name it. I know the whole leaving home and going to college thing is supposed prepare you for what's out there, but I sure wasn't prepared to see some of the stuff I did. Diversity on a college campus definitely has its limits.

When I was doing a lot of air-travel last month (Orlando-Colorado-Oregon-Orlando), and spending a lot of time in airports, I wanted to do a blog post about airport people-watching, but I didn't really have time. Although traveling can be a pain sometimes, it definitely has its benefits. I get to see places I'd probably never have a reason to see and meet people I wouldn't meet otherwise.

In general, racing is going really well. Unfortunately, I'll once again be sitting on the sidelines at Philly cheering on my teammates. It's kinda a bummer (especially after the way I rode in Allentown and Reading), but there's always next year. Also, if you're wondering about my lack of pictures lately, it's because I left my camera in Gainesville :-( so I have to resort to stuff like

this

That's me sitting in behind LVG. Oh, also I forgot to mention that Ina Tutenberg is amazing.

You know who's also amazing: Morgan Patton. She got 2nd at Kelly Cup and 6th at Somerville and she's from Florida! Way to go!