To warm up for the SM100 I decided to do the Black Bear Rampage in TN this past weekend. It was a 42 mile race on lots of fun single track near the Ocoee river...where they did the olympic kayaking (or so they tell me). I don't know about you, but when i think of rivers and the south only one word comes to mind....Deliverance. Fortunately, when you get enough cyclist together, the spandex scares away the bad elements. The race rolled off about 8:30ish.(actually 9) The first wave was pro/expert/pathetic 36 year old thinking he is faster than he really is class. I hit the woods about 8 back and kept a really nice pace for the first 7 miles of single track. This was the only part of the course i had done before. I hit the first descent and i was trying to go as fast as i could, unfortunately i tried to change lines and kept moving till the right until i moved off the trail. I guess i scrubbed enough speed prior to hitting the tree since neither my bike or me were hurt. (my butt hurt the next few days, apparently that is the part that hit the trail) I was still moving along pretty good until the rain started. I'm not very good in the rain, and i had not prepared my bike for rain so this was when my race slowed down. With all of the dirt/sand in the drive train, i felt like i was on the verge of chain suck anytime i was in the middle ring. Fortunately it didn't happen, but i was reluctant to really push the rpms on the cranks. I took it easy over the roots and ended up rolling in at 3:28 i think. 6th out of 9 in my age group. I know if it had been dry i would have been much faster. I had to save my self for the SM100.
I'm not sure what i was thinking by wearing a white jersey...I'll check the weather this week so i don't make the same mistake again.
dry start
muddy finish
Check out the cheesy smile underneath all that mud....Russell eat your heart out.
1 comment:
Not as cheesy as the people looking at you.
what are they laughing at?
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