Weather: clear
Course: Icy. Very Icy.
Result: 57th out of 90 starters, and I am happy about it. I had a good race.
Race Report: I ended up right in the middle at the mass start. I did not get a chance to preride the course and so I was a little apprehensive, but everything looked rideable for the most part. As the race started I felt pretty good even though the cold air was hurting my lungs just a bit. I was passed a number of guys, but I also was able to pass some and so I probably stayed near the middle of the pack. But man, it was sketchy out there. Every turn was a fall waiting to happen if you picked the wrong line or leaned it over too much. But it made it fun too.
As it turned out on the flats I would get passed, but in the twisty stuff I could make up ground. Seriously, if I could just whip myself in better shape I would kill it out there.
Anyway, as the race progressed I started feeling pretty good until the last couple of laps. I think I did about 7 laps since they were taking me between 7 and 8 minutes per lap and raced for about 55 minutes. That was about 10 minutes too long. I am not used to racing anything past 45 and it hurt. At the end of the race I was tanked. I never went down. I dabbed maybe twice, but it was a near thing a few times.
Tomorrow I am racing the Singlespeed race with Buttercup members, Jim and Tim. Some Half Fast Velo guys, Craig and Steven should be racing as well. In today's race there were not any names that I recognized. But, in tomorrow race I will have spent legs and freezer burned lungs. Hopefully all will be well. After the race I am bookin' it back to Portland and hopefully missing the freezing rain that is supposed to be coming in...more fun.
I am also posting pics of Jim's and Tim's race which took place about 3 or so hours after mine. The course was even more icy for their race. At one particular descent it was total carnage. It was great to see...mostly because I was not the one sliding down of my butt.
Without further ado...the pictures
Prerace...
Beware the hairy belly...had to make some prerace kit adjustments
JIMBO! He had some serious prerace jitters
TIM! Had no prerace jitters...he napped until it was time to leave while Jim paced for an hour straight.
You can see one guy down in front of Tim. There were lots of guys going down in their race.
1 comment:
Mr. Flynn--super cool pics! Thanks for sharing!
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