Texas Road Rash Inline Skate Marathon 2008

I had 5 skate practices in 2008. Practice #2 and #4 went badly.

I signed up for half marathon since 5k wasn’t offered. I packed the camera that I hadn’t skated with since Euroroll 2006. Time flies.

TXRR has matured and runs like clockwork under Richard Littrell and the City of Round Rock.

Saturday Elimination (11 laps, last man out)

Game plan:

Avoid being tripped by sub-80-LB skaters.

Keep the pace low and utilize my 10-second sprint.

Races seldom go as planned.

3 laps in, 2 bright orange skin suits had big lead.

I did a poor job organizing the chase group. Our pack fell to pieces when starting pursue. No other Texas Flyer entered the event. I went alone. I stealthily gained ground before the host Richard used the PA system to warn my competition. Thanks a lot, Richard! I kicked myself for not going earlier when pulled off the course.

The pros stirred when Joey Mantia showed up at registration.

I follow him a few min during his warm up. Effortless form. Very humbling.

Sunday. Sunny. Cool. Breezy. Beautiful day.

Jerry showed up at start preroadrashed. You gotta cut that out, Jerry.

Duane and Timo had the first pulls. I barely hung onto Timo’s cadence. 13+ miles to go. I took coach’s advice and skipped all my pulls after facing 3 seconds of alleged 6~8 mph wind (yeah, right).

Rest of the race was uneventful. I skated at the back of the TXF train for 13 miles then went hard at the last corner.

I stayed on the course with the camera. My legs suffered trying to keep my subjects in frame.

I didn’t adjust shutter speed as sun got bigger and ended up overexposing half the shots. Should’ve taken a course from Kautz Photography.

Happy racers thanked me for my teammates pulling. Many were envious I had such team to skate with. One skater poked fun of my Saturday performance, “can’t hack it without 8 supporting teammates, eh?” It’s not far from the truth.

Had dinner with friends downtown Austin. Never Again and Tiger Cry were excellent Thai dishes.

Saw bats leaving Congress Ave Bridge before driving back to Dallas. Quite a sight. Stayed clear of bat poopoo rain. A good day.

photo posted:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnny101/

Location