While i was browsing them internetz in search of pictures from the Blue Ridge Cup cyclocross race that occurred a few nights back in Hillandale park, i found a beautiful rendering of myself riding on fire over at Cyclocross race winner Ryan's place. I'm glad Ryan smoked the crowd, because i saw some smack talk from a sidelined Andrew McKeegan, who had to sit out because of the massive intake tube installed in his leg.
The highlights of the past month+ were going up to NY and racing and riding with friends there, and seeing my family. Corey and i participated in the Suicide 6, which turned to 5 hours because of the 'epic' conditions. I managed to pull the fastest lap of the day and they gave me a giant trophy. Despite a broken chain on Corey's part, we still managed to be the third placed team overall, so not bad. A few days later we traveled over to the old Farmall Hill Tuesday night series. I felt a little better than i had on Sunday, having slept in a house and not my van the night before, but when Jason Hilimire went off like a rocket i remembered the pain that these races bring. But after the first climb i saw that i was more or less in control and managed to win despite some collisions with lappers. The hardest hour race ever.
(Corey, making funny faces as usual)I did a BBC hillclimb the next night as well, with aspirations of setting the record time. Alas i could not do it aboard the mountain bike and ended up in 3rd or 4th? place.
Next up was the Shenandoah 100, which went alright last year, but i had no idea what to expect except 9+ hours on the bike, which it thankfully didn't end up being. In a 100 mile race there is so much that can go wrong, i figure if you make all those things go right, you probably will do better than a lot of people by default. So i went out 3 times and just made sure i knew the course, climb durations and stuff like that. I think it paid off because i managed 9th place. Sure, things could have gone better, i broke my derailleur and got dropped at a bad moment by Chris Eatough and Jens Neilsen. But these are points to improve upon and it was still a great ride. I wanted that 7:30 in such a bad way, but next year right? Rocktown did well overall with Ryan coming in at 8:10 and Kyle smashing his personal best at 8:25! Buffalo crowd did awesome as well with Pat W finishing right around 8:13 and Dennis B not far behind.
Last week i went down to race the 5 day mountain bike race in Pisgah. I was nursing a cold from the start, so maybe my perception was distorted a bit, but there is no harder race i have ever done. 40 miles and 9000ft of climbing a day made me a sad boy by day 4, despite holding 5th place. I got pretty sick on that day and lost a ton of time. I decided not to start on day 5, as i would have probably put myself in the hospital. It was fun overall though. Hung out and wrenched for Jeremiah, who won the race every day and overall, and it really is pretty down there in NC.
I don't have much more for racing on deck for this year, but i am itching to get a bit better so i can hop back on the big and begin the massive prebase of legends that will supposedly turn me into the rider i want to be. Looking foward to the Tidewater Challenge as well, maybe dress up, and hoping not to have the swine flu this time!
