Treeman: "Don't Worry About It"

That's how Big Jim answered me when I asked how far ahead of me first place was. It was the second of three laps last weekend at the Flat Rock Park, Columbus Ga. Round 5 of the Georgia State Series by Gone Riding.

"Really? I'm that far behind?" I thought. Yep, I was, and getting further behind. Jim, was standing there, beer in hand, wearing a kilt (which he lifted just as I went by), when he gave me that encouraging cheer.

"Yea, I won, and I'm wearing a skirt!"

I was having an off day to put it mildly. This was supposed to by my "A" race but I felt worse coming into the weekend than I have at any other event.

Short Track

Saturday evening was the short track, which was as many laps as we could do of a special course in a certain amount of time. They start the whole group together, kids and all. Makes for an entertaining ride as you lap them on single track. I finished second in my class but The Kid beat me bad. My legs felt weak and my heart rate was through the roof, still I had hopes that the XC race the next day would be better.

Race Day

The morning started out cloudy and muggy. Radar showed rain just to the south of the trail, moving our way. Right as the first wave started the rain came down. My mood (and I'm sure everybody else's) went sour. But it stopped pretty quick, it had rained just enough to make the trail slimy, plus increase the muggy factor by 10.

I just didn't feel up to the task at hand. I hoped that when the whistle blew and the adrenaline started pumping I'd feel better. So all six of us old guys lined up.

I got a poor jump at the start, went into the first turn 4th, and started to panic just a little. There was a rider in our class who had not been riding the series and he was between me and the front. I didn't want to lose any more points than I already had so I slipped around 3rd and got on Mr. New Guys wheel. My HR was in zone 6 (no kidding, that's what my Garmin said) but I couldn't let them get away.

Flat Rock is weird, it has open pasture type trails which lead to very tight snotty single track, then back to the open stuff. Add in the rock garden and the place just wasn't flowing for me.

I moved around 3rd before we got into the slick, tight single track and managed to bottle everybody up behind me as I tiptoed through the trees, trying to recover just a bit. As we emerged from the last tight section before the loooooong straight by the feed zone I heard Mr. New Guy say "damn I flatted, go get em!", which was music to my ears.

I couldn't see 3rd behind me, nor could I see 1st. It's hard to chase what you can't see but I tried to focus ahead. There was a short but steep climb right before the rock garden, and as I hit the bottom and looked up I saw a spectator with a dog on a leash standing right in the line I was committed to. I had to back off to let him get out of the way. As I dropped into the first rock section the rider behind me (not in my class) says "rider back", to which I reply "just as soon as we get through this" (it's a very short section), so naturally he goes inside me on the sharp downhill turn, falls, and takes me down with him. I said some bad words. Rocks hurt when you fall on them.

I rode the rest of the race pretty much alone until I heard "Dad!", The Kid was catching me. This was unprecedented! Fortunately he was on his last lap and I still had one more to go so he didn't get the pleasure of passing me.

At times I felt like I wanted to puke. I was working hard but not moving. Anyhoo, I ended up second, so did The Kid. As it stands now I'm tied for first going into the final at Helen Ga. Not where I was hoping to be. The Kid should finish second in his class, he's getting faster, just in time for the last race.