Okay I'm not a doctor either (which would you trust me to do first though?) but the point is that I am just as much a mountain biker as I am an astronaut (or doctor for that matter.) I only dabble in mountain biking and really only race in the dirt when I miss racing or forget the pain from last time. Most mountain bike races are about an hour longer than the 15-20 minute races I am accustomed to at the track.
I just finished my first race of the 2011 season, Westside series#3 at Soaring Eagle Park (better know to us locals as The Beav) in the Sport class. Like it was last year; I did a mountain bike race as the first outing. Unlike last years race I didn't have a flu and was feeling pretty good about everything. I knew that if it was going to be muddy I would be just fine since it would be just fine since it would default to being a race about brute strength and horsepower which is something that I can do. It just depended on getting a good starting position and just hang on for a couple laps and then launch myself. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get a good start position. I found myself with little left in the tank about 2.5 laps in. I was still passing people but I knew that I would now be fighting for a top ten finish and not a podium slot. I gauged my efforts wrong and hit the wall hard. For a second I caught myself thinking of excuses to leave the race and go home in shame. I felt like crap: I was over heating bad and my hearing was starting to go, breakfast was coming back for a reunion tour that would undoubtedly result in horrible disappointment. I had to get myself out of this mental hole and back in the game. I drank some water and took off what layers I could and decided to take it back a notch to stave of breakfasts second coming. I started to play music in my mind and in a little I was feeling much better and passing riders again. I wasn't 100% but at that point I was happy with something. All was going well until I chose a bad line over an obstacle and crashed in a way that smacked my knee into the bike, pinned my leg and dropped my chain all at once. As I was pinned I saw all the people that I had just passed overtake me again. Lucky for me there was only one person in the bunch that matter. I got up quick fixed my chain, limped for a bit and got back on the bike. The rest of the race was uneventful and I ended up taking 6th place finishing in 1:10:59. Not bad for someone that only dabbles in mountain biking. I am not disappointed in the result; I didn't come in last and I didn't puke. I learned a lot about myself as a racer and took a lot from the experience. My endurance is still not where I would like it to be but it is for sure a ton better then at any point during last season. I feel confident that with a bit more training Ill be hitting it hard in May (track season starts.)
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