avalanche

Joel rode in the 'expert' , Sean and Clayton rode in the 'comp', I rode in the Single Speed cat, which was in the 'sport' race. It was hot... and very hot for the later races.. here's a quick report from my race, and some photos.

wow, that was tough.. I went out in the first wave of the Sports, which included single speed riders and some younger age group, like 29-35 or something...anyhow, at the start I blasted up to the top of the first hill and into the lead just for grins, then let some mtb racers through so I could see how to do this stuff... fell, got up, then got stuck behind a guy that 8 minutes into the race was hitting the wall. I was all "hup, hup, hup" behind the dude while the top 3 ro 4 riders were building a little gap..this was just at the end of the first section ( the bridge loop) .. I passed him and got the leaders back within sight, .... continued that way for the first loop, then beginning the second loop I passed one of the ss riders who had a flat. I thought he was out of the race.. turns out he fixed his wheel, and got back in... anyhow, at that point I figured there were just two guys ahead of me, the leader (who was riding ss, and was way out front) and the geared bike dude that had been riding with the guy who flatted. I thought I had an outside chance of catching that guy, but didn't want to overdo it trying to move up on him. I could see some folks behind me on the switchbacks, but I felt pretty good, and didn't worry about them too much. I had walked a few of the hills on the first lap to conserve energy, and give myself time to actually drink the energy mix I'd carted up to the top.. then, when the hills weren't as steep, I felt strong, and could really hammer. That strategy worked well on the second lap when I heard the guy coming up behind me.. I knew he must be working hard, and was watching me walk.. he probably figured I was fried.. Just as he closed the gap though, I finished my water, and hopped back on, and blasted up the last hill. I figured if he could hang with me on that hill, I'd pull over and pat him on his back on his way past. Well, that didn't happen. I finished about a minute ahead of him...When I checked the results I was surprised to see that I was 4th overall..... dang, thought I got third ? well, dont forget the waves,and the elapsed time that determines the results.. so I got 'edged' out (by about a minute) by a 14 year old riding for hollywood .. dang. but that kid will probably be one heck of a bike racer in 20 years! .. The scoring on the race is by age group.. even for the ss riders. So there's no separate ss category, and I'll have to check if either of the two guys who finished in front of me were actually in my age group.. In my mind though, I got third place out the group I went out with, which included three of the four fastest riders in all the sport categories ..