My first Mountain Bike race. Due to unfortunate events (Details Here) I only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before and only about 3 weeks of training. But I felt OK and the overcast skies kept the temperatures in the humid 70s somewhere. Nice and cool. When our group took off I got pushed to the back of the group and wound up behind a slow train of riders on the single track. The leaders were long gone. The train kept falling off and eventually I was in a group of 3 that I couldn't get around. Fortune smiled on me as the lead rider went off the trail on a curve, tumbling into the bushes. The second rider had to brake to miss him and I went screaming by on the inside. Free to push, I went for it and caught two or three such groups. Each one just waved me by. The course was very flat and fast with small roots, some sand, and lots of quick turns. I past a team mate. I should have been far behind him. Guess not. Eventually I caught another guy who sped up as I caught him. We blazed ahead with him in the lead eventually catching another rider who also sped up. Near the end of the first lap was a huge section of road and pavement. Our group of three were near 3 other riders by this point so I put it in gear and flew by all of them through the end of the first lap, feeling great. Then back onto the trail for lap two...

This lap, I was tired and started making errors in the curves and having to brake. I tried concentrating a bit harder and on one curve I concentrated so hard, the world was crystal around me. Every leaf and line and bit of sand was exposed to my gaze. So clear was my focus that I was able to catch a fly in my mouth as I made a tight turn, on sand, between several trees, and their exposed roots. Of course, with my luck, it went down the windpipe and I tried to hack him up, succeeded, and then, reflexively, I swallowed. Thankful for the bit of extra protein I pressed on, trying not to concentrate so hard anymore.

By now, my back was killing me. I was riding a hardtail and the bumps just went up the saddle and into my spine. My trick of climbing with butt in the saddle and nose to the handlebars was causing me to drop in order to generate power instead of getting out of the saddle and dancing on the pedals (or I was just too tired to stand). Either way. I was in pain. Note to self: this may help out on the road bike. My death grip on the handle bars didn't help so much as my hands were about ready to give out, making it hard to shift gears, and my legs were like weights. I was looking for a road crossing that signaled two miles to go. I was looking and looking and looking. I looked so much that I didn't see that tree until almost too late and swerved just clipping it with my shoulder. I scraped it pretty good. Thankful for the adrenaline due to pain and now blood, I was able to push a little longer. Eventually I got to the road.

I managed to push the entire rest of the way with a few short rests in between. It was a good race. At the finish I almost caught another rider amidst the cheering crowd, what fun. My back was in such pain that I couldn't bend over to pick up stuff. I had left everything out on the course. It was a good race. Wish I could figure out how I can scrape my shoulder on a tree at high speed, draw blood, and not tear the shirt I was wearing. . .

Fin