The Rapha ShowYou could feel the excitement, energy, and adrenaline vibrating through the walls of
Mellow Johnny's. It probably helped that the automatic sliding doors were pried open to accomodate the crowd spilling out into the warm Texas evening as the night came to life.
The city of Austin could have powered it's lights with the efforts of the riders as they spun their way into Austin Roller Racing history.
Roller Racing has been around since the early 40's, and has taken various shapes and names, including "Rollapaluza" and "Gold Sprints". For more information on the history of roller racing check out the article from
Rapha's Therese Bjorn.
Crowds of trackstar kids, local messengers, mountain bikers, tuff grrls in skirts, local night life, business professionals, and roadies packed the space, cheering for their favorite riders, enjoying the free adult beverages, and rocking to house music provided by
DJ Prince Klassen. If you are a bike rider of any kind you were here, or trying to make up a good excuse as to why you "unfortunately, couldn't make it". Because according to participant, Sheri Rothe, this event was, "Absolutely, ridiculously awesome!".
Jared and Jordan rocking the tanlines
A Member of Team Legalize It from the Houston Courier Team
Kate, Sheri, Kim
Andrew Stackhouse of Mellow Johnny's and
Pirate Race Productions began the evening by presenting each team (of four riders) to the crowd in true "Voice of Texas Racing" style. Creative team names and costumes included Team Leslie (after our very own homeless celebrity), Team Fakenger, The Doe Eyed Killers, and many more filled the brackets. My favorite costumes came from Team Leslie, a powerhouse of coaches from Source Endurance, elite level bike racers, and triathletes. However, in their skimpy outfits and wigs, only their physiques and training tanlines gave away their talent.
Derick "Yes, I am wearing my fiance's shorts" Williamson, Lafico, The German, BMarsh
Team Fakenger
LETHAL Lindy
Two teams were formed after the qualifying round Friday night where the top 6 men's and top 2 women's times were granted entry into Saturday night's race. As one of the qualifiers, I was teamed up with Gordo, John, and Jared. We affectionately referred to ourselves as Team Half and Half (poking fun at our Asian/Caucasian mixed team. Classy!)
The structure for the competition included single elimination rounds, with a special Women's Final Showdown to determine the winner for the ladies. Four racers would sprint 500 meters as the crowd cheered for their favorites. A large clock with four different colored arrows measured the distance covered by each rider. Each arrow's color corresponded to the color of bar tape on each rider's bike. The clock faced the audience who would inform the riders of their progress. A special kudos go to the Rapha team that adjusted the seat height for each bike between every heat at super sonic speed.
Skirt PowerSince I rode well in a skirt at the Friday night Qualifier, I decided to stick with the skirt theme and also represent for AT&T Brain and Spine. Facing Whitney Schultz (who races road for Team Hotel San Jose), Kim Wilson (Austin Flyers), and Lindy Alton (AT&T Brain and Spine), I hardly expected to make it past the first round. These are some strong grrls that I am use to getting my rear handed to me in races with them, not to mention their hot outfits!!
On GO! we were off and all sense of form went out the window. That was evident after the heat and several friends remarked, 'Marsha, you're an animal!' and "I've never seen anything like it!".
All I could think was, 'Well, that must have been ugly!' and 'I hope I didn't scare away that cute boy in the crowd. Oops' and "You mean I have to do that AGAIN?!'.
Lindy and I advanced to the 2nd round where we raced Greg Parham (the eventual, overall winner) and Brian K which can be
seen here. Yes, my form was horrendous, but it was amusing yes?
Because of the smaller number of women participating, we did have to race against the men folk after the first round, but there was a special Women's Final Showdown that pitted the female winners of the 2nd Round in a THOUSAND meter free for all sprint. Well, as they say, there are better ways to puking than drinking too many margaritas right? Lethal Lindy edged me out of the 2nd Round and found herself racing Shontelle Gaunthier, Lori Barrett, and Sheri Rothe in the final.
One Thousand Barfalicious Meters. Grabbing a beer, I squeezed to the front to enjoy the madness.
In the end, Shontelle prevailed, but not without some serious spintastic competition from the other ladies. Hot racing all around. Way to go grrls!!
The showDOWN
Of all the qualifiers from Friday Night, Chris Gilbert and Dustin gave remarkable performances, advancing all the way to the semi-finals and finals, respectively. According to his friend Chris Lee, ChrisG has been riding less than a year and has been tearing up the roads since getting on a bike.
Other notable performances include my very own teammate Gordo who tied with another rider after one heat and had to chug an entire glass of beer before sprinting another 250 meters in the rematch heat.
The final showdown came between elite level mountain biker Greg Parham and Dustin who was the number one qualifier from the Friday Night Qualifying round.
1000 meters to an IRO track frame.
It was fast.
It was furious.
It was an amazing display of cycling power. In the end, Greg edged out Dustin for the win. After catching his breath and receiving a victory kiss from the podium gal in pink, Greg's words to the crowd?
"Roadies don't have sh*t on mountain bikers!"
Well, apparently not tonight, but hopefully the Rapha folk enjoyed their stay in Austin enough to come back next year! Or as my friend Mel suggested, "How about they come back in the next six months?!" Agreed. For an event that brought so many facets of the cycling community together to race, drink beer, and cheer til midnight, I say, this event needs to become part of the yearly calendar of things to do.
Team Mashers Victory!
To the
Rapha Continental group, chapeau. Please come back soon.
Slate and Carey from Rapha, Chris from Mellow Johnny's
Daniel from Rapha capturing local talent
To
Mellow Johnny's and all their staff, THANK YOU for organizing and putting on this event.
(And lastly to all of my friends who came out to support me, I love you!)
PH
PS: More pictures of the event can be found on
my flickr
