so today marked my first bike race in months. its also my first race under a new team: BOONE VELO. charlotte short track. event #2 of 5 in the series. last night darcy, lindsey and i rolled out to rock hill, SC. we stayed at darsey lingle's house. thanks again!!! so we got to the race course this morning around 10am and i got registered, got my number plate installed, and i got changed. darcy, lindsey, and darsey (my cheering section) found a table to hang out at and i got to warming up. i got two laps on the course and tried to get my heart rate way up high and get my legs to burn and then i spun around until they called our class to the line. we sat around long enough to make another trip to the boys room... a trip that i could have used. and then its all about racing:
riders ready.
go.
the punk kid in front of me (the same one that won sport mens 19-29 serc last may) missed clipping into his pedal and by the time we got moving some other guy was trying to elbow me into the fence at the end of the sidewalk. bull-schniekies!! so a hard right and its sprinting for position entering the woods. i got in about 7th place and we're cruising through and i'm thinking gosh i have to work on my warm-up since i never seemed 'warmed up' and then there's a little crash involving philicia marion. yes, this IS the MEN's sport 19-39 race and well, maybe.... you never know...
and so anyways... i don't really remember what happened, but after the crash i got into 4th or 5th position. we make our way through the wooded section, up the rock step-up, and then onto the gravel and up the grassy hill toward the sidewalk and start/finish area.
lap 1. the pain has already started... so cruising down the sidewalk, through the parking area and i'm sitting in like, 4th. we enter the woods and i'm feeling good and the lap goes by and i'm going through the start finish again. lap 2. more pain. so this time through the parking lot the three guys in front of me all sort of sit up and i dart to the right to miss a rear wheel and there's still enough space before the singletrack. shift two gears. stand. i'm in the lead. what?!?
the guys behind me say:
'who is this guy? do you know him?'
i reply
'i'm just some slow guy.'
'people who wear skinsuits aren't slow'
'oh, no. i just forgot my shorts and had to borrow this.'
laughter abides.
heads down.
i lead through the singletrack. through the berms. through the old creek crossing that is now dry. along the newly fresh bench cut. over a rickety sideways wooden bridge. BIG RING. i stand, climb. cross the rock step-up. gravel road time. ouch. it hurts.
so i'm still in my big ring. legs are on fire. my pedals don't want to turn. the three guys i've been riding with come around me and i can't stick anyone's wheel. i look back and there's no one. we gapped them?!? maybe my pace was too high. oh well. so through the start/finish and i hear 'these riders have been racing for 15 minutes...' and i'm like, there is no way to keep it red-lined for 30 more minutes. i watch the group of three roll away. i kept about a 10 second gap for a few laps and then some Kenda-KMC girl (not philicia. another one) showed up in my rear view mirror and i worked to stay in front. after another lap or so she came around on the gravel and i fell into 5th or so.
i held 5th position for a while and soon we all caught lapped traffic. i decided to pass todd wells and JHK just before entering the woods to leave some work for the Kenda-KMC lady:
that made things a bit more interesting and passing other riders in the woods was quite fun. a columbian fellow from greenville came around while we were on the gravel again and i was in my middle ring. what? my big ring stopped working.
somewhere in all of this another guy (or two, although i think he had a flat and we lapped him but he got counted on OUR same lap) managed to pass me and i finished up in 8th place. RESULTS HERE
it was a fun race. i got a crappy start, made my way to the lead group. THEN to the FRONT. then slowly faded back to 8th. i think if i would have sat in 4th instead of going around the guys that maybe i could have finished in the top 5. or at least top 7... before the race i told myself i wanted a top 5 but i would be happy with top 10 and well, i got it. BOONE VELO represent. we got some noodles from NOTHING BUT NOODLES (title sponsor) and then headed back to rock hill, SC for some peanut butter sandwiches and coffee.
after all the racing was said and done we stopped at the trail for darcy and lindsey to do some laps and decide if they wanted to race next week. Darcy's lap times were impressive and she wants to do her first MTB race. updates to follow. wish us luck.
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