Blowin’ Smoke

Coffee Bean

On the way to the race I went through my usual nervous stomach conversation with Jenny, downed some imodium, and slammed about 5 water bottles enriched with NUUN. I also thought about the unusual amount of riding I did the leading up to the race and wondered if it would make a difference in my result.

It is all about preparation!

I did Jerry’s crazy road/offroad/watch Mike suffer ride(67 miles). Jerry and Ryan’s Tuesday night, 7 hard ass climbs ride(47 miiles). I could hardly move my legs at the Time Trial. Then Ryan ripped my legs off at the kettles on Thursday.

Anyway, as most of you know I moved up a class this year to comp clydsdale. One reason is to get as many team points as I can, and the second is because I frickin’ qualify for it. So after I registered and weighed in at 215, I heard from a fellow clydsdale racer that Russell Jobs wasn’t racing that day. I was a little disappointed but I began to think to myself, “hey I could do pretty good today”. Not sure why, but I got it in my head that I was prepared for the race and hydrated. This is based on my performance at the Firecracker where I hit Russell on the head and stole his water bottle(not really, but it is a good story). Anything it takes to win right?

On a side note, Russell is a great guy and pretty darn fast.

Fast forward to the race:

So here I am sitting at the start line while Don is calling up the preffered starters and I hear Russel’s name. Not expecting anyone to move I see Russell ride up to the start line. I was a little surprised, but also a little happy because I had someone to chase since he has been winning all the races. At the start I high tailed it to the top of the hill and planted myself right on Russell’s wheel. I paced him all the way around the leadout, thru the first sections of single track, out the alpha trail, and back. On the way back toward craters of the moon I felt really good and was stuck with the decision to stay comfortably behind Russell or pass him and turn up the juice. The choice was easy, I passed and hammered and never looked back. Then I saw Mark Larson and Paul - yes they were yelling, and it got me fired up.

Thinking that I am in first place my goal was to keep riding hard, not blow up on the hills, and try not to crash into trees….Easy right? Well guess what? As I was climbing up that stupid switch back climb to the top of the hill I caught and passed another clydsdale. Now I didn’t know what to think. So I just rode as hard as I could for the rest of that lap, hoping I would either catch more clydsdales or stay ahead of the ones I passed.

I settled in for the second lap wondering how I was doing, where is Russell and the other clydes. Then as I climbed the gravel road at the end of my second lap I saw Russell in street clothes. He saw me climbing and yelled great job, you have a good lead…I didn’t say this, but I thought “Holy @##$ I am winning!” then as i crested the hill I saw the guy I passed on the switchback climb sitting on a lawn chair drinking water….he drop out too. I finally realized i was in first place.. The third lap was pretty much a blur for me, I was starting to feel the heat but knew all I had to do was hold my pace. And i did! And i won! and I needed it! and it feels good!