I think i'm addicted. I finally sucked it up and raced the final local race at Beaver Creek on my Single Speed 29er. IT WAS AWESOME Very painful, physically and mentally, I have never wanted to quit a race after lap one as I did last night. The first lap was just hard, I had nothing, all the espresso and gels and blocks I took just didn't help me on the first lap. But coming through the start/finish to begin lap two I felt way better, and attacked the first climb of the second lap. I noticed on my watch that I was through lap one at around 35 minutes which wasn't bad for the 5.6 mile loop with 1378 feet elevation gain. Even the early rain at pre-start proved to help me out a bit, a lot of the other riders with geared bikes were having shifting issues due to all the mud gunking up their drivetrain. So I had that goingfor me which was nice.
I knew I was dead last in my category, but this was personal, I wanted to finish riding the entire course. I did! and I am very happy. Throughout the race I thought I was 20 minutes behind, but I finished less than 4 minutes off the back and only 10 off the winner. I consider that a success.
My friends did well again in their prospective classes, BillyBarry finished third in expert, and John took fifth in sport... Animals.
The after party was fun, free beer and tacos at Coyote. Prizes were handed out to series point leaders, bike frames were raffled, it was a good time.
All results here.
All pictures here.
The race season is pretty much over for me. I might do a Mountain State Cup race for the hell of it. Other than that I am looking forward to the fall and some Fruita and Moab riding for sure. I am also thinking about some Cyclocross racing!!!! The CultCross series is a local one held in Eagle, pretty cool. Which also means... NEW BIKE! NEW BIKE! hehehe hahaha.
