Drag Race

Quick update: So I'm on a bit of an adrenaline high right now after an epic drag race with a townie. And by drag race, I mean bikes because this kid wasn't old enough to drive. Not even a tractor.

We're staying in Republic right now (I posted from the library earlier this afternoon; there's wireless in our overnight stay) in the local youth development center, affectionately known by the local fare as the "YD." So we're having a great stay and all that in this town. Dinner's over, I've just eaten an entire pint of ice cream (a reward for climbing 23 miles today, no joke), and am patching a flat when Laura comes in. "Where is Kathy? She needs to come out here, stat."

So I emerge onto the deck of the YD where I am met with a glorious scene: 7 punk townies surround us. To be more specific, they were surrounding Anson, who was working on Pen's bike while the rest of the group looked on in horror and bewilderment as these turds with 'tudes made wisecracks. I was captivated.

At one point Christopher emerged and with true dramatic fashion, glued on a demeanor surpassing Mr. Rogers: "Well, hello, local youth!" "Don't be a fool, stay in school." "Be smart, don't do drugs." Hilarious, but the townies weren't fazed; condescension didn't enter into their insult vocabulary.

After numerous rude comments to Anson ("Dude, you fixin' your bike or somethin'?" "I'll give you $15 for your bike." "I got a key to this place, be sure to hide your bikes away inside."), who's demeanor was curt and underlined with the tone "F-off," I decided to show these punks a lesson. I went up to Anson and said, "You wanna race 'em?" "Of course," he replied.

So I walked up to the riff-raff and asked them if they wanted to race. They replied yes, but when I asked them to go get their bikes, a tumult of lame excuses emerged, the best of them being, "I don't really feel like walking the 2 blocks to my house to get it." The ringleader however was fortunately riding a bike and, despite it being a fixy DMX bike about a foot too short for him, was too proud to refuse the challenge.

We rode to the start line, about 400 meters up the main drag and chose the finish to end at the YD. All of Bike and Build was called out to the street and the locals poked their heads out of the bars to come see what the commotion was about. It was like that epic scene in Grease.

With that, the race began. It was a poor showing at first because Anson and I were in such high gears. The townie also had the only advantage he would get in the race: the downhill. He had no shifting capabilities and was riding in such a low gear, that he basically got the full advantage of the momentum gotten off the downhill. I was thinking while he was ahead, "Oh, this is going to be embarassing." But then Anson and I hit our stride, townie lost the downhill, and we came sailing in, Anson riding without his hands on his handlebars. It was a most triumphant moment, despite the fact that we all knew the townie was poorly under-equipped.

As the group walked away in shame immediately following the race, I yelled, "Hey, you guys wanna join us for our ride tomorrow? We're going 65 miles." Yes, I rubbed the loss into the faces of underprivileged 15-year-olds. But they had it coming with their loud mouths and punk attitudes. And I consider it a favor to all the people they probably pick on in this town. I had a younger local girl come up to me after the race, wonder and awe were expressed in her eyes, "Great race." I'll put money on the fact that she gets terrorized by those buttheads; I won that drag race for her.

In other news, we have an addition to the NUS crew tomorrow: Brendan Newman. Brendan is not a rider, he's an administrator. Typically, the trip admins show up the last two days to drive the van and tie up all the lose ends at the completion of the trip. Since Brendan had some extra time however, he decided to show up a week early. Never mind that he hasn't been here the past 9 weeks or that he's partially responsible for our van issues and inadequate supplies (i.e. tents), I'm sure he'll fit in just fine. He's also the reason why we missed out on lunch the first day. Personally, I look forward to his superior insight and administrative wet blanketed-ness. Oh, and his eyebrow ring is way hot.

That's all I'll put in for now. Another thing: if any readers of the blog are interested in joining a Bike and Build trip (Ally?), don't hesitate to contact me or any of the other riders; we love talking about the trip. You can reach any of us on facebook and my email is kehill@email.unc.edu. Thanks all.