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Greetings from 36,000 feet! As I type this, I find myself sitting on Air Canada flight 8918, listening to some Bob Seger and heading for Quebec City and the 21^st annual Tour de Beauce. I’ve been given the lovely task of telling you guys about yesterday’s behemoth 156 mile Philadelphia Invitational. After 6 plus hours of a lactic acid induced slam fest, I think I can give everyone an interesting perspective of the race.

To make a long story short, Trent ended up 15^th and I ran somewhere around 40^th. It’s 2:00 pm the next day and I still don’t know my official finishing place…….As soon as we make it to the hotel and the dust settles, I’m going to look into finding that out.

I don’t type long drawn out race report saga’s regarding who did what and when the attacks were made. Instead, I’ll provide some insight into what the queen momma hootchie herself, known to the masses as the Philadelphia Invitational, is all about.

I’d really just like to tell you guys about the Manayunk Wall. It’s what’s put this race on the map. Basically, the course starts in downtown Philadelphia, races out to a hip popular neighborhood called Manayunk, goes up a bastard of a climb and then returns to downtown. We do this circuit 10 times, plus some spectator friendly local laps to round out the 156 mile voyage. Sounds like fun, eh?

When we pre-road the climb the day before, my legs muttered a few incoherent obscenities to me as we both discovered The Wall was not only steeper than we had thought, but also longer…..Steeper and longer, a fine combo for a 156 mile race! But on race day, I absolutely loved the climb. The crowd was insane! They put the Athens Twilight Criterium crowd to shame. Sorry Athenians, but it’s true, you’ll need to steep up your game a bit to regain the cheering crown of the cycling world. Here’s how:

First, you’ll need a really big party. The Manayunk Wall was one big party, from top to bottom and then down the back side. It was unreal; party after party on all the residential porches that lined the street. I’m not talking about a 10 year olds pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey birthday party or some sort of backyard barbeque. Nope. They were like young caged beasts released into the party world for the first time after years of deprived, cold, sober nights. My girlfriend and her mom were even flashed by a woman…..and a man. Eureka! They also saw a Viking running up and down the street.

Ok, now you’ll also need beer bongs and beer pong. Yes, it sounds crazy but I mean it. Hey, you want to be the best crowd in cycling, right? These types of party games just accelerate the inebriation, which directly effects one’s perception of fun, which turns into the type of cheering capable of producing a sore throat, and last and surely not least, gives the rider one of the finest racing experiences around.

Well there you have it. I think that’s really all for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. The guys and I are currently contesting the Tour de Beauce way out in the sticks of St. Georges, Quebec. I mean way out. Like where Santa lost his reindeer.

Wish us luck.

Austin

Courtesy of: WWW.AKINGSLIFE.COM…………..Giving Freckled Kids Hope Since 1981.

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