My bro Tim and an old pal and I went to watch the Roller Race at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor last night. Whattayaknow, Kurt signed us all up for the racing! As the “Three Potter Brothers.” Too bad I got bumped to a later heat or we coulda been 3 oldtimers going head to head in front of the crowd of 100 black’n’tat clad bikers.
Hey, here’s a link to a fully detailed and photographed newspaper report: annarborchronicle.com/2009/02/10/pedaling-at-the-pig/
And results: hellyessprints.blogspot.com (yes, I’m near the bottom, but to enter the fray is the thing, right?)
I got wasted by the youngsters—and anyone who’d practiced—but didn’t do too bad for an oldster. Ignorance was my main barrier, I say.
I think I *could* relearn the “like the wind” spin of a downhilling fixie with a few tries. Thankfully I didn’t buck myself off the stage in the 20-second 500-meter free-spin dash.
It was a darn fun event with a great variety of strategies and outfits on display. Plus there were several ladies heats—I think some of them beat our oldster times.
My bro brought along several lugged steel pro keirin frames to sell that we wore around like fashion accessories, which hipsters asked if that’s what they were.
I noticed several masters age racers in the crowd who did NOT dare climb the stage to the shiny rigs of pain…
