Getting Chicked

"Chicked you twice, Pulcipher!"

"I'll bet you can't do it a third time, Johnson."

And she didn't. She just didn't have it in her. I think it was the added pressure that I put on her to actually produce, rather than just sneak up from behind with stealthy attacks. After all, I am one heck of an intimidating sprinter and once I decide to engage the quick twitch there isn't much left but softened asphalt and the smell of burnt rubber. The first big sprint of the evening was the one leading into Waterloo and after one of the shortest lead outs I've ever had from Randy, who looked like he was ready to take a nap or maybe already doing so, I decided to go for it. I figured there'd be a pack of fresh legs roaring up behind as there often is at this Stop Ahead sign, but I wasn't going to look back to find out. This was for glory and sore legs for the rest of the ride.

I'd started a bit early because of the Randy factor, and sure enough as we neared the sign, I caught a glimpse of the first wheel taking advantage of my rash impulsive act. I envisioned more wheels to come, but as that wheel formed into a human being, I realized it was Laura taking advantage of my draft. Her wheel edged out mine as we crossed the line.

"You've been chicked, man!" she yelled. Laura gets a bit ecstatic about these things. She spent the next ten minutes rubbing it in and then bringing it up off and on for the next thirty miles or so. I mean, after all, she did beat the guy known far and wide as Cippo jr., so I can understand her excitement. There are other connections in there, too, because Laura does leopard things and so does Cippo (though I don't), and Laura does ear things and so does Cippo (though I don't, except for occasional waxy build up), so there is something sympatico going on, though the association to me in particular is tenuous.

No one else had dared join our duel, so I wondered about the intimidation factor among the pack. I tried to bring this up to Laura, but all I got from her was a reminder that I'd been chicked. I wanted to ask her if she remembered Molly Van Houweling, because she used to chick me (though I didn't have that term for it at the time) with regularity on our group rides and at Runway, but I let it go.

On the second chick, she took advantage of a head to head duel where, once again, no one else could touch our roaring speed and stamina. We rolled down Scio toward Oak Valley Drive and after a long lead out by Eric and a gutsy but vain attempt by Josh to capitalize on it, Laura and I were wheel to wheel as we neared the sign, but somehow her wheel bested mine. This is where I challenged her to a third attempt at glory. As I said, it didn't happen, though she did roll through the very red stop light at the Maple/Scio intersection trying to gain some kind of feeble advantage. The rest of us obeyed the law and brought our wheels to a complete stop.

She really has no shame. But she is one heck of a good sprinter this year.