Stony Point Crit

It has been a while since I've contributed anything on here, but I felt inspired today.  Not inspired like the time I emptied a bunch of Black Cat fireworks into a film container and stuck a fuse in it... make no mistake, that WAS inspired, but real, actual inspired.  I went out to the Stony Point Crit to find just about every member of Da Family present.  First I spotted the one and only Don Vito and Cherie hanging out by the starting line with a few people who I didn't really recognize.  I kissed the ring and then I was introduced to Rat, Maria, and Ben who were in attendance as spectators and/or hecklers.  I had heard a lot about Rat from Joe, and I already knew who Maria was, but this was the first time I had actually met any of them.  So if you guys are reading this, it was great to finally meet you, but I really just wanted to tell a little tale which kind of came full circle or whatever today.

About 5 years ago, maybe more, maybe less, I went to the gym to take a spin class that my wife took regularly.  I had been to a couple before, and I think I had just started riding on the road around that time.  So my wife and I showed up that day to find the usual instructor, Megan was absent and a substitute instructor was filling in.  This instructor strolled up to class rocking the official Spin Mafia jacket, and I immediately took note.  I had no idea who she was, or what the Spin Mafia was, but I was quite curious to find out.  I mean, the class itself was pretty tough that day (from what I recall, this "sub" had us doing some much longer intervals than usual), but that JACKET!!! Man that thing looked sweet, and "Spin Mafia?"  That sounded more badass than Chuck Norris and Steven Segal, and John McLain combined... yeah, I said it.  So I went home that night and used my totally creepy internet spy skills and Googled "Spin Mafia."  What I found was a website with just enough information about them to know they were legit.... then I got to the profile pictures of the members and, well... let's just say McNelis isn't a runway model, ok?  Anyway, I found this instructor on there and found out her name was Maria.  After checking out some race results for these folks, I found out just how badass the Spin Mafia was.  I checked out the description of the Classic Spin Mafia ride with an average speed of something like 23-24mph maybe, and thought, "Holy shit, there's no way I could ever ride with these guys!" but that of course, was great motivation. I learned later, I think through a friend at the gym, that Maria was a state champ.  Needless to say, I was super impressed that I took a spin class from her, and thought how awesome it would be to A) ride with these badasses one day, and B) have a badass state champ jersey of my own... dreams, right?

Okay, now that I've been exposed as a total internet lurking weirdo, let's fast forward to present day.  Some of you may know that I'm trying to win a jersey this season that says "State Champ" on it, and believe it or not, I'm actually in a pretty good spot in the BAR competition to do this.  The guy in 1st has upgraded already to Cat 3, and with my 6th place finish at Stony Point, I should be moving up into 2nd....but we'll see... still a ways to go.  Anyway, I just thought it was really cool to finally meet Maria, who kind of indirectly inspired me to be able to ride with the baddest dudes and ladies in town just by rocking that cool jacket and kicking my ass on a spin bike.  Not only that, but to meet her on the same day where I might actually move into serious contention for that State Champ jersey... well, it just seemed like I should write about it.  So thanks to Maria, and to all you other Family members for pushing a brother to get better.  I may not make it out to the official rides as much as I did last year, but hey, if I'm real lucky, I might just win a cool jersey to show for it.

Also real quick, special shout outs to all the Mafioso who raced today.  Cherie won the 40+ race, Panella got 5th in the Cat 3, Oliver got 6th, Pete got 11th, Steve Benjamin, Tarzan, Jay, Nick, Fritz, and Baumgartner all raced, Harvie, John Payne, and Lynn kicked some serious ass directing traffic, and Garner worked registration like a BEAST!!  Think that's everyone, right??