When I realized I had forgotten my shorts I was about ready to throw a temper tantrum until my friend Mary stopped me and asked, "What are those? Just wear those." What she was referring to were the spandex undershorts that I wear beneath my normal shorts. "No way, Jose. I am not rolling in those." My friend Eric chimed in, however, and said, "Hey man, the spandex is totally Euro. You should rock 'em." Well that was enough said for me because I like to kick it with the proper European downhill racer style. So that day the only thing anyone saw of me was my skinny ass in spandex getting smaller and smaller (because I was going so fast). I felt like such a tool that I had no choice, but to wreak absolute havoc on the trail making sure that there was no mistaking me for the typical type of trail kooks that can be found rocking the spandex.

At the end of the day I felt pretty liberated. I was wearing those ridiculous shorts which looked even worse with my downhill jersey (imagine a big red t-shirt with two spandex sticks coming out of the bottom leading into a pair of silver biking shoes), but I still managed to command a little bit of respect out on the trail. Actually, I think people were just confused more than anything else, like, "What on earth is this guy doing and what is he wearing?" Who knows? I haven't worn the spandex since.