Ciao!

Vindication

05.26.2003

The Moped Army BBQ is over. It was a great success. In addition to the out-of-towners from the last few days, members from the Ann Arbor (The Guns) and Bethlehem, PA (Blue Shirt Holiday) showed up. That means every branch of the Moped Army but two were represented.

I'm sure they'll be tons of news and photos about the event at the Moped Army website in the next few days. So check back there. I'm too tired to post much, and I've too many pictures to pic from right now.

But let's get to the real news: the "no rules" cross-town rally race.

We lined up on the intersection of Walnut & Portage, facing west, just before 4pm. There was a light breeze and fears of an impending rain on the horizon. The sky was a canopy of dark grey clouds. Engines revved, wrists twisting at the throttle. Itching. Waiting for that light to turn green. Waiting. And then an explosion of buzzing two stroke as forty-some bikes tore off left, right, and straight ahead. It was on.

I rode The Motron, and together we tore up Walnut hill in a tense pack. All tucked in racing position: feet up off the pedals on the narrow foot rests, crouched low over the handlebars. Motron had the acceleration, but not quite the top end. We slipped back. Ahead were the powerhouses: Dan on the Milani, Wayne on the Panther, Devin on the Califfo (damn that Califfo!), and Megan on the Tomos Bullet.

We raced up to a four-way stop at Burdick. No cars, and the pack went through. We came to Rose. No cars, and the pack went through. I was slowly gaining back some ground on the flat — but not much. We were nearing Bill's Lock Shop, the first checkpoint. Park was coming up. And suddenly, Motron & I got our break. The pack stopped! A car and a motorcycle rolled down Park.

I was on the outside (left) and still racing at the pack ahead of me when I saw it: the coming break in traffic. The others were at a full stop and the final car would soon pass them. If I could only swing out to the far outside and go through as soon as the car passed me, I'd never have to slow down. Full throttle. Straight through Park. And that's when it all came together. The sky opened up and I could feel a light kiss on my forehead.

The Motron catapulted me past a startled pack. Westnedge — and Bill's Lock Shop — was just one block away. And only one person was handing out flyers. Jackpot! I was already on the far left, w/ a clear view of Westnedge traffic. All clear. A hard stop across the street, grab a flyer, and go.

I turned left onto Westnedge, racing against oncoming traffic in the left-hand parking lane. No cars were parked. All clear. Plant my right leg on hard asphalt, and a sharp snap turn onto Cedar. Back across Park and racing towards Rose, Devin and Wayne hot on my tail (Dan had gone back down Walnut). A swooping turn onto Rose (it turns into a two-way at that very block) and full throttle to Lovell and the Public Library.

Again, only one person was handing out flyers. And I got there first, just ahead of Devin. I whipped The Motron back around and tore up Lovell. Crossed Kalamazoo Mall, headed towards Henrietta, which was under construction. No heed. Zipped between orange cones — cutting Devin short — taking the inside turn around onto South. After zipping through Portage, it was a smooth downgrade to the Whistle Stop.

But. There was no one there w/ flyers. No one. I hesitated, relaxed the throttle. Motron coughed, wanted to race. Devin and I scanned right, then left. And, again, Lady Luck kissed my forehead. I saw him first. Hit full throttle and dragged my left foot on a hard turn towards E Michigan and that final flyer.

I took it in my hand and tore back around down Pitcher. This was it. It was my race to lose. I tucked that final precious flyer into my jacket pocket, patted all three flyers, balled up into a chaotic mass, in my pocket. Just for a split second. After all, I did have to get back into racing tuck. And Devin (w/ that damned Califfo!) was hot on my tail. Slowly gaining.

He was on my left. Lucky. I saw him from my only side mirror, and merged ahead of him. Timed it just right so that I cut back into the inside turn as he came back around. And we raced like this, Motron fighting a frenzied rearguard action against the Califfo. We fought the whole quarter mile back down Pitcher, merging back onto Portage and to the finish line.

Motron crossed a bike's length ahead of Devin and his Califfo. My fist pumping in the air as the crowd roared. Sweet, sweet victory! And against the Califfo! Vindication for last night's disaster.

It didn't matter that Dave actually won the race (he took the reverse route). I still came in second. A clean sweep for Team Minarelli. Dan crossed soon after, and joined Dave and I as we jumped up and down, arms around each other's shoulders: "Minarelli! Minarelli! Minarelli!"

Here's a map of the race route I took. The red dots are the flyer locations; the "X" is the start/finish line.

Posted by Miguel at 11:53 PM

Comments

Posted by: stephanie at May 27, 2003 02:06 AM

Posted by: josh at May 27, 2003 07:38 AM

Posted by: bil at May 27, 2003 12:00 PM

Posted by: Simon at May 27, 2003 03:10 PM

Posted by: miguel at May 27, 2003 03:27 PM

Posted by: sam at May 28, 2003 09:44 AM