Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Chattanooga


SERC #6, Nature Trails, Chattanooga Tn. 







 An awesome place to race.  7 miles of sweet single track.  We didn't get to pre ride the course on Saturday since there was another event at the venue.  No matter (at least not to me).

You can always tell an old guy from behind.  Boney arms and all.
We rode at White Oak Mtn. on Saturday, which was another machine built trail system.  Well worth the visit.  I hope to go back again.


But damn I look good from the front :).

Race Day

Only three of us on the line for the XC race Sunday.  As I pushed through the Juniors I heard one of the parents say "60 plus?  They should get a trophy for just showing up."  Ageism at it's best.  I really hate the looks we older riders get, kind of like we're cute for just racing.

Anyhoo, one of the guys in my class was new to the series.  He looked pretty fit so I didn't want to give him a chance to get to the single track ahead of me.  In the OMTP she has me practice a one minute charge from a dead stop, then settle into my cross country pace.  Seemed to work this time as after the one mile paved start the other two were no where in sight when I turned into the woods.

As I started to catch the Clydes I looked behind me and saw New Guy only a few turns back.  Oh yea!  I thought, now we have a race!  He stayed about the same distance back as we started the second lap.  I made a decision to not look at my Garmin and just go as hard as I could stand for the next 3 miles.  Turns out I can stand more than I think.  I ended up beating him by a little over a minute.

I really felt good.  I was able to concentrate on the trail ahead of me (most of the time) and actually race ahead.  Oh sure I got tired, and my legs and back were talking to me, but I was going about as fast as I could for that day.  It certainly helped that I was enjoying the trail.


He keeps rolling the crash dice and he'll come up snake eyes one day.

The Kid

He managed to salvage a 3rd in his class.  A couple of crashes took some of the fun out of it for him.  At the speed those guys are going he's going to have to concentrate more.


Hmmm, short and a beard must make you fast.

Looking Back

The second place guy in my class (went by the handle of Smoke) didn't stay around for podiums, turns out he was a local and rode those trails all the time.  Dave (race organizer) forgot to do our podiums so we staged a sit in.  It may seem a little silly for old men to get a medal and stand on a box but hey, it's all for fun anyway.
Old guys protest being last at podiums.
Once again I'm super fortunate to be able to do this at 62, heck I'm surprised I still want to do this.  But I do, even the training (except for the indoor trainer, I kinda hate that) and the gym work.  I will admit to getting burned out on the gym stuff lately but I just need to mix it up some more and not let those morons get to me.

I'm dropping Bump and Grind this next weekend, it wasn't much fun last year and it looks like I should be okay in SERC.  Then it's Acworth for the GSC and SERC make up, then Helen for the finals in both series.  Followed by nationals in July.  I may even do the Florida series, who knows.

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