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| Keeping the streak going! |
22 years I have been participating in this race. Driving down the morning of, I was dreading toeing the line. It was cold (for me) at 30 degrees, and I had only ridden my bike 3 times this year. So I wasn't exactly feeling the bike fitness. I had more running miles in my legs than cycling miles. I thought of the gentleman who had run with a Strider bike one year and toyed with the notion of doing that, although where am I going to find a bike like that at 6 am?
The bus ride gave me plenty of time to fell just how unprepared I was for today. Whatever mojo I may have have mustered was driven deeper into the depths of my psyche by Karen Carey. She was filling both my ears with inadequacy, ineptitude, and despair. Had it not been for the fact that I would be unable to attend the March race, keeping my racing streak going, there was a good chance I would have bailed today.
After warming up by running around the parking lot, I made my way over to the starting line. Lisa pointed out that my right shoe and pedal was covered in 💩 ... and human, at that😒. How fitting!
Fortunately, all that negativity left my soul once I saw my favorite peeps at the starting line: Ray and Tammy Blevins managing the scoring table. 10 pedal strokes in to the race and Racing Carey (aka Taz) flung Karen Carey off the trail. Jayden came by a few seconds later and I hopped aboard her wake. I managed to hang onto her until halfway up the double track climb. Not too shabby I must say.
The legs felt surprisingly good at a comfortably hard pace and with the trail being in great shape save for loose baby heads, I made good time through the first half, only 5 minutes slower than my April 2025 time.
As I stopped to swap bottles at the SAG, Lisa rolled by. I quickly hopped back on and slowly made my way up to her wheel. At this point, I could care less about "racing," but having my best friend to share the second half and provide some stoke, was what I was craving.
I could tell I was struggling a bit in the last 7 miles. I kind of felt like a pinball on the rocks. I think it was more to do with rusty technical skills than a lack of fitness. But the sun was out and I was truly in my happy place, despite my less than stellar performance.
Lisa and I popped out together on the pavement. Knowing I had faster tires than her, I took the lead so she could tuck in. Still, I out rolled her and crossed the finish line well ahead of her. But she had started 30 or so seconds behind me and ended up beating me by 2 seconds!
Jayden ended up with a stellar time of 3:45, and first in the money class. This kid is fast!
So, although the morning started out crappy, it ended up being a good day on the bike. And the Snake Pit cooking crew were on fire! Plenty of food for everyone to replenish their calories. And some awesome schwag socks to boot! I still have my pair from 10+ years ago.
