Living In the Moment

The 50+ base class does the wave on the podium at Flat Rock XC race.

I was listening to the podcast from the Tour Divide the other night. Sitting in my comfy study, sipping on an adult beverage, and thanking God I wasn't on top of a mountain in Colorado sleeping in a snowstorm when one of the riders said something that made me think. He was cold, tired, hungry, and missed his family but he was reminding himself to "live in the moment". It was so beautiful where he was he said that it made the suffering easier to take. He wasn't thinking about his house payments, job, or any one of the thousand things we all think about every day. His future was just getting through the moment. Which was bringing him a certain joy. Many religions teach this very principle as a pathway to inner peace (hang with me here I'm not going in too deep on this), the art is remembering to "live in the moment". I've found that racing does this for me better than anything else. I don't think about all the superfluous debris that usually seems to clutter my mind when I line up on race day. I don't think about how old I am, retirement, or what I need to do at work Monday. It usually starts falling back on my shoulders after we get home on Sunday night and then I realize that I hadn't thought about that all day long. Gosh if we could just teach ourselves to enjoy the time we're in RIGHT NOW instead of waiting until some time in the future wouldn't life be much more pleasant?

Now that I got the Kumba ya crap out of the way I'll get down to telling about the XC race in Columbus Ga. last weekend. It was hot and muggy but that's not really a surprise is it? The trail was weird, it's located in the suburbs of Columbus Ga. and it looks like it's an older park. The open sections were just a ribbon of trail through mowed grass, but when it hit the woods it got tight with rocks in a few spots. At about half way there was a nice section that had some flow to it but all in all not my favorite trail.

At the start I had trouble clipping in and got out in third, passed first and second before we got into the first section of single track, and tried to check out. My arch nemesis Robert was right on my wheel though, maybe he read last weeks blog and had figured out my strategy but anyway I couldn't shake him before we got to the "Rock Garden". The entry to this section had a sharp, off camber, rocky, rooty, downhill. It was there that I caught a rider at the tail end of the 15-18 class. I had been awake the night before worrying about this very turn and now here I was. I went wide while the kid went inside. I was trying not to follow him in case he did what he did but it was too narrow. "I knew it!" I said as he went down, taking my front wheel with him. Robert just unclipped and rolled around the outside. He hollered "don't worry you'll catch me" and I picked up my bike and began to run down the trail. Such is life in the base class.

I kept Robert in sight and managed to catch his wheel in the open section. I was really doing all I wanted to do but I figured I'd try and break him while it was open. I went around but every time I looked back he was still there! The bile started to build in the back of my throat and it felt like I needed to burp. I was breathing so hard though I was afraid if I burped I might puke and that would be bad. As we came out of the last tight single track before the feed zone I looked back expecting him to be there. He was nowhere in sight. I kept the pedal down until I hit the flowy section. I could see a ways behind me through the trees and never caught a glimpse of him. Turns out he had burped the air out of his rear tire twice and was just trying to keep 3rd place behind him. He did and I only gained 1 point on him. I now have to beat him at Helen on July 14 to secure 1st in our class. Is there anyway to improve in just a month?

As far as the rest of the Tallahassee group goes DannyK got a first in his class, Blake got a 5th in his, Paige took 2nd after leading the first lap (sorry about the picture Paige but it was too good to pass on), Parker got a 2nd, and we all had a good time. The sponsoring shop gave out money for prizes this time which was nice but I'd still rather get a bag full of goodies. It's kind of like Christmas when you peek in the bag.

We did the Higher Ground ride last night on the single speeds and I'm planning a long ride for this Saturday if I can get some interest. I'm ready for something different.