After pre-riding the weekend before and seeing the humidity and heat in the forecast I knew it was going to be a long, hot race, which it was. I saw the names of some of the heavy hitters pre-registered and set goals, with landing a step on the podium being the most lofty. I'm almost 48 years old, I train about a third the volume that I used to and, while I love racing and training, enjoy the racing/life balance that I have now, which is basically training to be competitive at local masters races.
I did a huge workout on Wednesday night and basically avoided any intensity and too much heat exposure leading up to the race. I felt a little flat but knew if I could maintain contact on the first big climb without blowing up it was going to be more of a race of attrition than a drag race. I was mostly right, but it turned out to be back and forth up until midway through the 3rd lap which was some fun and fast racing with nearly everyone making mistakes and suffering from the 102 heat index.
I was the first into the woods and was totally surprised that I wasn't just leading the group out on the pavement and only to be jumped going into the woods. I dialed it back a little before the start of the climb and paced myself which Brody, Aaron, Eli and Bourisaw came around me. This is about what I was expecting and my goal was to stay in contact with Bourisaw and Aaron. Surprisingly, we had a gap on everyone else already. At some point in the first section I went around Bourisaw and was riding 4th wheel. Again, we opened up a gap on him immediately. I got gapped on the downhill by the youngsters but was able to get back onto Elis wheel through the bottoms. He went down in front of me and I made it around him, or more accurately, by running over his bike.
Both Brody and Aaron started to bog down a little after the last climb up to the pavement and passed Aaron who was undergeared on the SS. Once we hit the double track Brody either hesitated or was recovering and I went around him. I thought I had heard that there was cash for the fastest lap and was really surprised he let it happen, pretty much uncontested.
I came through the start finish in the lead and noticed all the bottles from my hand up table were on the ground. I stopped, grabbed a bottle and put another on the table for the next lap. Brody and Aaron were already exiting the field by the time I got back on, but I chased and somehow caught them before we hit the dirt again. Not too long after Aaron let me pass and I was riding Brody's wheel. He was bogging down to the point I thought he might be waiting for Eli to catch up so I said fuck it and went for it. Pretty much no response. I had daylight almost immediately. That was about 2 miles into lap 2. The rest of the lap was pretty uneventful and I was feeling good and pressing on.
Coming through the start finish after lap two the tape had blown my bottles off the table again, which I failed to notice until I was exiting the field and had to stop, run across the field to grab one and get back on. Aaron passed me but again I caught up to him before the singletrack. I was gassed. At some point in the next mile or so he let me pass and shortly after that I hit a tree hard with my left shoulder, went down and he took over again. Not sure how long after that I caught him, maybe mile 3 or so, but I passed and ended up putting 3 minutes into him the rest of the race.
I don't think I've ever celebrated winning a race like that before and it was uncontrollable joy. Why it means so much to me I'm not sure, but I'm super impressed that I can do what I'm doing at this age and there's no doubt this was a hard mans race, which are always more enjoyable to me.
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