Rubbin' is Racin"

Well at least thats what nascar says. Got to bed very late saturday night and had to get up very early for the Kingsport Crit Sunday morning. Austin, Angie and I got up early and joined her parents in Yuma for church services before heading to the crit. After Church we headed up to her parents house to change. Right as we were leaving.......drip drip. Man the rain is here. I was getting very unmotivated to do this race. Wet crits are a dangerous animal. I was pre-registered so I didnt want to lose my $$ so we went on downtown to Pals and got Austin and Angie a bite to go. Found our way to the lot where Rob already had his EZ up set up and started to do the same. I got SOAKED. It was raining hard and I was getting more and more bummed about this race. I went ahead and put my kit on and it started to quit raining! Yeah! But the road had huge puddles in it. Rob and I rode for about 20 minutes to warm up. I was still bummed but I was starting to feel better.

We all got on the line, got our marching orders about the rules and such, chatted with Mike Ritter and Steve Stidham a bit. Mark, Set, GO! We were off, the first turn everyone was very leary. Nice, easy and slow everyone rode. Good now we can just get into this and ride.

Coming around the last turn of the first lap I get this hot INTENSE pain right where the top of my leg bends to meet my torso. CRAP bee sting.....Dam that hurts!!!!! It wasn't a wasp or honeybee it was something bigger with alot of punch in its tail. Never seen it, I rubbed and rubbed and tried to stay on the draft. Finally the bad burn turned to a throbbing numb feel and I started to figure out how to win this thing. The weather was looking alot better by this time. 3or4 laps into the race I have my mojo working and all of a sudden IN A STRAIGHT 3 riders go down in front of me.....dang! Evasive maneuvers! Barely missed going down by hitting a bike. I got dropped by about 100yds but I easily made that up. I felt good, I felt that I could handle anyone in the pack except Rob (who really is a CAT4 - used to be a CAT3). I got up front and pulled a lap 5mph faster to see what everyone would do. They did ok but a few looked as if they were getting tired. I rotated back to the rear and sat there 'til the last lap. Last curve I moved out away from the group and slowly built up some momentum and then swerved back over by Rob and said get on. He immediately took to my wheel. We were hauling as we passed the front of the pack! We got a huge jump on them. Rob pulled out and sprinted the last hundred feet and I was spinning my brains out to stay with him. I didn't hear this college kid sneak up on my left and he got me before the line. 3rd place racing a bunch of 20yr olds ain't bad in my book. No red&black jerseys made podium in CAT5 either yehaw!

We sat around and had some free pizza. Angie went and got us some hummus from the Kingsport Grocery Company that has recently re-opened. We enjoyed a nice day after all. Sun came out for all except the last race Pro 1,2. We packed up and split cuz it started raining hard again.

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Monday comes. Got up went to work, got through a little early. Hopped in the car and off to Bays Mountain's Springfest MTB rally. Its a annual mountain bike race. 1 lap consisting of 12 miles and alot of climbing. Last year I did it on a SS and posted a time of 1:03:00. That was my goal to beat....under 1 hr! I got up front at the start where its easier. (You dont have to pass many folks that shouldnt be racing at the front who aren't serious.) We got our rolling start and we were off. Passed Bob spinning his brains out on his SS and some others. Got to the first climb and followed Larry to the top. Bob came by like the machine that he is up the hill. Larry was trying his best I would find out later to drop me but he didn't. I stayed with him to the down hill then I left him. I got to the rock road and where I was riding out of my HR zone I din't have much there. Well Larry catches me with Mark in tow drafting...lol. I stay on those two guys wheel until the big climb after the half way part. 20 minutes in, wow I'm doing pretty good I think. I can see Bob now and hes pushing his SS. I'm not making any ground so I rest my butt and push the last half. I lose sight of Larry and Mark. Jump back on, now my heart rate is where I need it to be 150's. I continue to ride my pace with no one in sight ahead of me. I catch Mark then Larry and a few more. I'm doing good now. I get up the last climb and haul the mail down the long backside downhill part passing two more. Turn the curve for the gravel road one last time, dang I dropped my chain. I fix that and get going. I'm rolling down this road alot better this time. I look back and don't see anyone. I look at my Garmin and sub-hr looks do-able. I ease just a bit to save for the sprint at the end. I hear crunching gravel, lookback and Mark has snuck up on me, geeeezzzz! I start laying my pedal strokes down a little harder now, not stomping but building momentum. One little climb before the end sprint, got it! Look back and Mark dropped off my pace. I don't have anything left for a stand up sprint so I dig with what I have left, I see the clock....Dam it just turned 1:00:00 hr. Crap Crap Crap! That took the wind out of my sails. I crossed with a 1:00:17. I beat my old tme which was good but I wanted a sub-hour!!!!! Next year I'm pre-riding that place a month before to memorize it better. The fast guys did it in 48:00 min. I want at least 57:00 min next year!!! I'm not as fast this year as I was last year at this time. I'm also about 8lbs heavier too. I was running training for the Crazy 8's at this time last year also. I'm going to add my 3.5 mile run back to my program now and try to keep running for the rest of the year also. I know it helped last year. The Johnson City World Championships are tonight but I need to get caught up on some house cleaning and bike maintenence so I'm skipping tonight. There is another crit in Asheville Sunday I may hit, also one saturday in brevard. We wil lsee what Mr. Austin wants to do, he said something about a movie this weekend. Bay's also has a trail workday too on Sunday,busy busy busy!

LATER G, .......................................