Dawn til Dusk

It was only 18 or 20 degrees when racers lined up on Mentmore Road in Gallup, New Mexico Saturday morning, but everyone was upbeat and full of good humor. This year the race started by running the racers out dirt road to the end of the loop and then onto the course in hopes of avoiding the cluster that mass starts often cause. I ran the singlespeed and of course knowing I am not as strong as I should be, I went +2, so I lost a great deal of ground on the road, but when I hit the trail I was happy with my choice. I caught up to Ayden, son of my teammate Chris. Ayden is 13 and this was his first endurance mountain bike race. We cruised a nice steady, but not too slow pace for our first lap. I made a fairly quick pit and headed back out for my second lap. I caught up to Ayden about 1.5 miles in, the first 2 miles are 80% climbing, it is where you do a huge part of the 17oo feet of climbing per lap. He was feeling sick, so not being in the mindset that I could compete with the big gals, I walked with him a bit, advised him the best return route to camp, and when the 5th place SSF passed me, I took off to not be too far behind her.
My second lap felt good. I was not strong enough to ride most of the climbing in the first 1.5 miles, but after that I was able to move along at a decent clip. I kept a pace that would have gotten me 6 laps had I not taken such long breaks between laps. I mostly took long breaks to try to save my feet. After Gunnison last year My feet were in pain and half numb for weeks. I can barely last 15 miles without the pain making it so I can't pedal, so each lap I am taking shoes off, rubbing them, etc. to allow me to continue. On my third lap I passed the 4th place rider, but within 2 miles, the 6th place rider, who had a mechanical on the road the first lap, passed me and within a few miles more, the gal who had been fourth passed me, so I was in 6th. In the end I was 5th, although the 5 times I checked the results postings from 6 to 7pm I was 4th. The actual 4th place rider beat me by 35 minutes or so. Had I gotten a 6th lap, I still think I would only have gotten 4th, because the 3rd place rider got her 6th lap 45 minuters before I got my 5th lap.
All said, I was happy with my performance and my effort despite my not training at all for the last 2 months. I literally have ridden 5-6 times since 24 HITOP. I imagine had I still been training I could have contended for 3rd place, but it would have taken 8 laps, 8 friggin fast laps to have competed with those first and second place gals.
Now, back to Ayden. Ayden and I went out on our last lap together (he was out for his 4th, me my 5th). I struggled for the first 4 miles on that last lap because my feet hurt so bad it was making me nauseous. At about 5 miles in I told Ayden to just go ahead and he said - "no, I said I would stay with you and I will." We rode that lap together, and I came in slightly ahead of him. When he came in, he was right in front of none other than Travis Brown.
My best pal (who we convinced to not bail at 3 pm the day before) Lisa rocked out 6 laps in Solo Female class. That class was also the very tough. Last year she would have placed, but like me, she wuld have needed 2 more laps to be in contention. If only these races would start breaking out the women into age categories like they do the men. There were 7 SSF, and more than that in the Sf class. I think that's good enough showing to let us have age categories too!! Lisa and I had a great time together. I think this was her first race ever without her huuby there to crew for her. My girlfried was her stand in crew. My team was rockin' and it was awesome to be out there with such an awesome group of people. Jeff won the Solo SS male 40+ and Lenny got third in the same class.