Monday, September 22, 2014

There's No Fool Like A Gold Fool



But before I could get to the Fools Gold 50 Mile Mountain Bike Race I had a cross country bike race to do.  Sunday a week ago was the Tallahassee round of the Florida State Championship Series.  I love this race.  It signals the beginning of fall (even though it was 93 degrees), plus it's on my home trails.



There were quite a few familiar faces on the line in the 50+ expert class.  I lined up next to Mark who usually finishes way ahead of me (and will today).  Hammy was on the other end of the row, he and I have been racing against each other since we both started in base and my strategy was to hang with him.  Mark and I decided who would go to which side of the trees about half way down the start, then the whistle blew.

I fell in behind Hammy and we passed a few riders going out the multiuse.  He seemed to be struggling so when he took one of the alternate lines on the single track I passed him.  Much to my surprise I could just see Mark up ahead so I managed to get on his wheel, where I stayed, until the last quarter of the last lap.


I (mistakenly) thought I had saved some for the climb up the gun range.  Mark, being the savvy racer he is, had figured that was what I was doing.  So as soon as we hit the climb he stood up and was gone.  And like Wiley Coyote in the old Road Runner cartoons I just watched him ride away.

But I wasn't disappointed, no, not in the least.  I was glad to have gotten to race with someone and had a really good time doing it.  I finished 8/15.

The Kid managed 7th in a very competitive 19-29 sport class while smoking my lap times.  It was a great day.



Fools Gold

Four of us loaded up Friday morning headed to Dahlonega Ga.  After some very poor navigating by Big Jim we finally got to the trails and unloaded.  The first couple of pedal strokes in the mountains, after a summer in Florida, are pure bliss.

We rode the last 10 miles of single track that would be in the race the next day and had a blast.  Until Tim blew out his tire.  Fortunately we weren't far from the truck and he was able to locate a new one for the race.

Saturday morning was cool with a slight breeze.  In the past the roll out has been medium paced behind a car, so I didn't warm up much (first time that day I didn't follow my OMTP instructions).  I lined up in the second half of the start group (didn't follow instructions again).  The gun went off and the car gunned it.  So much for the neutral roll out.

It took a couple of miles for me to loosen up the legs and start to pass groups of riders.  I hit the long road climb later than I had planned but not much I could do about it at that time.  I settled in for the grind.

I ate when I was supposed to, drank when the alarm on my Garmin went off, stopped at the sags I had planned on stopping at, and kept my efforts within what I had trained for.  I had the best Fools Gold ride I'd ever had.  I actually had fun and didn't feel like complete dog crap at the finish plus, I only suffered 2 small cramps which worked themselves out.

In the end I managed to shave 40 minutes off my 2012 time, finishing 12th in the 50 plus class.

That night we hit the same little restaurant in downtown Dahlonega that we'd eaten at Friday night. Pitchers of beer were poured, much food was eaten, and some football watched.  It was truly a great weekend.

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