Two Race Weekend

Friday night was the we toed the line for the 25 mile Washington Blvd track TT. The sky turned black several minutes before the start and the rain started to fall several minutes later. I felt surprisingly good, having only ridden my TT bike twice since the state ITT 3 weeks ago. I thought the track record was within my grasp but ended up falling 4 seconds short with a time of 0:54:25. The worst part of this was that I thought the record was 0:54:3? so I thought I may have beaten it by several seconds. Maybe next time. It won't be this year because I have to work the next time this TT is happening in a few weeks:(
Saturday was the Shannock Valley MTB race. I have a real soft spot for this race. Mostly because strength is placed at a premium and MTB skills are a distant second place. I showed up late at the start line and had to line up at the far back of the field (Bruce and Sheila) can attest to this. The race started out on a road section before hitting the first climb which always seems to go on forever. Between the two of these I was able to pick my way through most of the field and enter the single track in 22-25 place. I passed a couple more riders in the first section of single track and on the next up hill section. Then I held my position for a long time with no one passing me and only one guy on a single speed in front of me (he seemed to never get closer or further away). Later on in the race I was finally passed by one guy but I stuck close to his wheel and over took him on the final uphill section and then blew him away on the final downhill section of single track and then the short road section to the finish. I knew I had to pass him because at one of the final checkpoints the guy was telling everyone what position they were in and I was in 21st position so I had to kill my self to make that final pass to break the top 20. It's possible that I could have caught the guy infront of me (single speed guy) on the final road section but I thought it would be wrong to pass him at that point after he beat me up the entire course with only one gear. If the state ever starts to pay me again I may start a fund to buy some of these single speed guys bikes with gears. That can't be fun:) I ended up in 20th position overall and 6th in my age group.

A special thanks to , my great friend, Rich Seevers for letting me crash at his place for the weekend and cooking me lunch today:) Hopefully he will soon have to change his name from Afib Rider back to Rocket Rich and finally be able to train and race again.