A Tale of Two (Bike) Races

Now that I've reached the end of the week, I have a better perspective on my bicycle racing career.  As I mentioned previously, I had a road race and a mountain bike race occurring over the past week.  The following will be a recap of how things went and the lessons I've learned along the way.

First, the road race.  This occurred on Wednesday.  I had to drive a lot, wake up early, and bury myself trying to finish.  It was very hot, there was a crosswind all day long, and it was really exposed.  The temperatures were flirting with the nineties all day which made it difficult.  I started out well and was hanging with the lead group after the field spilt, but that didn't last long.  I got dropped but kept going and managed to at least get a result.  I ended up last, but at least that's better then the 22 people that didn't finish at all.

This race made me realize that it's entirely possible that I'm cut out to be a road racer.  It requires a specific type of training that I haven't done, therefore I typically crack early and have trouble hanging on.  Maybe this off-season I'll get serious and make a concerted effort to at least be competitive, but I'd say this year is shot. 

Advance a few more days to Saturday and there I was lining up for a mountain bike race.  Like Wednesday's race, it was hot, except it was possibly hotter.  I realized this shortly after the halfway point when I was coming unglued in a very exposed section of trail across the top of the ridge.  It was beyond uncomfortable as there was no shade, a hot breeze, and solid humidity.  After slumming for a while and cursing the fact that I was doing this race I found reprieve when I made a turn to do the final fire road climb and saw Jeff, hanging out, with a cooler of beer.  My race companion (Frank) and I stopped, sat down, and relaxed with a icy cold High Life.  It was quite simply perfect at that point in my day.

I managed to catch a second wind (and maybe a slight buzz) because I started feeling really good.  I cruised up the last road climb, got into the single-track, and started floating through like I had just started the race.  After a quick stop at the aid station I hammered out the last bit of single-track and ended up with this:

Granted, this was only a result in my class, but it was my first podium and it was kind of awesome.  It was my first taste of success on a bike and I liked it.  Now I know a bit about how Jerry feels with all his podiums, but I'm glad I don't know how he felt yesterday in his race.  At least this time I can't be held responsible if the bike is broken.