Its been wayyyy too long since I've posted anything, but the truth is that I have not because I've been busy.
Some of this busy has been good (finally racing again) and some bad... (work).
The racing? Well, I had the opportunity to hit 3 cyclocross races and 1 six hour mountain bike race. Some good, some bad again, but thats the way things are in life. My wife would say, 'Life is not all butterflies and rainbows!'
The first race I hit was Cyclocrunk 1. Frankly, I went better than I expected, but it was hard. They even made the race only 30 minutes, but by the end I could taste blood on my breath. It was that hard.
Then I had the opportunity to hit the 6 Hours of Herb. I teamed up again this year, just like 2 years ago. My teammate, Brad, turned out to be a great relay partner (not that I expected any different!). The race started early in the morning with temps nothing above 50 degrees, and rain absolutely pouring down. Brad took the first lap and did well -then I went out.
My first lap was slow. Not terrible, but definitely not great. A bunch of things were against me on that one- I had not been on the MTB in months, and the slick trail made for sketchy riding. I did not go down, but that meant I was not pushing hard enough.
With my first lap in mind, as Brad rolled in, I rolled out hard. I flew across the dam and dove into the woods, and I really dove - face first into the trail at a very high speed. I taco'ed my front wheel and smashed my right side hard on the ground. I still have bruises from it 2 weeks later. It took me a long time to get up, and even longer to straighten my wheel enough to ride. Sure enough, 3 miles later, my back tire went flat - so much for the new Bontrager sealant, won't be buying that again.
When I came in Brad was definitely worried, but he went out and did a killer lap. While he tore up the course, I moped around a bit and then decided to straighten the bike and get ready. With the wheel straight enough to do the job, I hit the course hard, but this time I mean fast instead of painfully.
In Brad and my last laps, we pulled from 7 place in relay to 4th place, just a couple minutes off the podium. I really feel like we could have podium'ed if I had not laid the bike down!
Two days later, I hit Cyclocrunk 2. This time, I went as hard as I could and actually had a race going between myself and a few other racers! I have no idea how I did overall as they don't post results for a training race, but I know I did well and felt like I went fast. Unfortunately, I did manage to lay the bike down again, only this time as I tripped over a barrier. When I got up, I race for the finish and beat out another rider. Good race overall......
To be continued.
