For future record, note that it is guaranteed to rain for any race hosted by Rutgers. It's obviously just a basic property of their events. The only upside to the rain was that it let Erik pull his usual "I'm closing my eyes so I can pretend I have no idea how fast Joe is driving on this rain-slicked New Jersey Turnpike." routine, which is always pretty entertaining.

     One of the more startling things to happen this race was that we basically left on time. Even I wasn't my customary 8 minutes late. It was impressive, and more than a little scary.

     All I really want to say about the racing is that Mike and Mitch carried the day by being the only ones to successfully complete their races. The rest of us all failed miserably, either from sheer suckage (Joe), faking flat tires (da Platinum), or being caught up in massive pileups (Justin, Steve, Dan). I have to admit, though, I was rather proud that Steve and Dan could carry on proud traditions and not just crash, but crash in their very first race.

     More seriously, the D guys all did really well. Justin, Steve, Dan, and Mitch were right up there with the lead until two other guys caused a big crash near the end of the last lap. Mitch managed to miss it, but the story as I heard it is that Dan rode into some guy on the ground while Justin rode over someone else's wheel. Steve thought that was hilarious for the few brief milliseconds before he realized it had redirected Justin right into him, taking them both down.

     A mildly amusing part of this is that I was watching the end of the race while waiting in line for the port-a-john. I'm watching the guys go around and everything's looking good. I go in, come back out, and the next time around everyone's gone!

     Although he was right up there throughout the race, Erik clearly knew that he was in trouble for the final sprint and, in a desperate panic to save face, obviously pulled one of the safety pins off his numbers and jammed it into his rear tire.

     For my part, I only went to get dressed up and look pretty, and was clearly unconcerned with actually racing. (Iceman, it's a damn good thing you didn't show up, it was fugly...)