Saturday (3-24-07) I packed and prepared to leave for “The Rim Wrecker” mountain bike race at Council Bluff Lake. I even cleaned my old Schwinn Homegrown mountain bike. It was good quality time with an old faithful friend.
Jessica and Andy arrived at my house late on Saturday and we loaded the car as quickly as possible. Getting a late start, we ended up pulling into the camp grounds near Potosi around midnight. Luckily, The Destroyers were still awake and they let us share their fire and camp grounds. Jessica and Andy quickly assembled their tent as they are expert campers and I opted to sleep in the back of my wagon. After a brief visit and a few beers, we were all snoozing by 1 am.
Next morning, we chatted by the fire and ate left over pizza for breakfast. The race did not start until 11 so we were in no hurry to pack up and move on.
I raced Sport and my race started around 12:30. As we went into the woods, the four of us fell into line. Me being second, which was were I was destined to be for most of the race. I followed, Christina Lamere (a.k.a. Fred) of the STLCC into the woods, but she quickly moved away from me and I could not see her any more. Obviously she was a stronger rider than me. It was not long before I realized there was no one any where near me. The girl behind me was WAY behind me. I kept riding and just enjoyed to scenery. Council Bluff Lake is beautiful. We were on a trail that goes all the way around the lake. For the most part, the trail is a bit rocky, but it is really rideable. No huge climbs or gnarly switch backs; just undulating single track that is really fun. The ground is very rocky and there are a lot of pine trees, so the trail drains really well and was not muddy at all. It is a great place to ride………..tell your friends! I was tooling along at a comfortable pace and then around mile 10 or so I realized I was getting tired and making lazy mistakes. I was feeling very disappointed in my riding…….well, actually, my cardio health and stamina. My technical skills were fine, but I sure did poop out quick. I was also getting low on water. It got up to about 80 degrees that day and I am certainly not used to that. I checked my clock and decided I was not up for 2 laps and wanted to be sure to get back after the hour and ½ cut off. I slowed down a little and just road like a total puss. Then, I saw the Christina in front of me walking her bike. As I got closer, I realized she did not have a tube or tire on her back wheel. I road up behind her and asked what had happened. She said she had been running for the last few miles!! She was flush and breathing hard and you could tell she was totally wiped out and frustrated. If I had been closer to the finish, I would have let her go before me, but I knew I had a couple more miles to go and I knew the girl behind me would be along if I dawdled too much. I apologized profusely as I passed her. Now I knew I was the leader and would probably get first place and I knew I was only a mile or two from the finish and the 1.5 hour limit was up, so I started to ride hard again. I figured I would get this thing over with, get a drink and then see if I could get this poor girl a wheel so she did not have to run any more. I crossed the finish and immediately told Brian and Bobby what was going on. Some guy I don’t know went to fetch a wheel while I went to grab some water. We strapped the wheel onto my Camelback and I headed back out on the trail to find Christina. However, I didn’t get far before I saw her running towards me. I informed her that she would be third if she ran on in, so she did. I just hung back and let her go. I still felt just awful. She collapsed after the finish and we gave her a jug of water that she chugged and dumped over her head.
For my efforts, I got a cool gold medal with the above logo and a pair of full finger gloves that I plucked out of a totally picked over pile of junky schwag.
Jessica and Andy arrived at my house late on Saturday and we loaded the car as quickly as possible. Getting a late start, we ended up pulling into the camp grounds near Potosi around midnight. Luckily, The Destroyers were still awake and they let us share their fire and camp grounds. Jessica and Andy quickly assembled their tent as they are expert campers and I opted to sleep in the back of my wagon. After a brief visit and a few beers, we were all snoozing by 1 am.
Next morning, we chatted by the fire and ate left over pizza for breakfast. The race did not start until 11 so we were in no hurry to pack up and move on.
I raced Sport and my race started around 12:30. As we went into the woods, the four of us fell into line. Me being second, which was were I was destined to be for most of the race. I followed, Christina Lamere (a.k.a. Fred) of the STLCC into the woods, but she quickly moved away from me and I could not see her any more. Obviously she was a stronger rider than me. It was not long before I realized there was no one any where near me. The girl behind me was WAY behind me. I kept riding and just enjoyed to scenery. Council Bluff Lake is beautiful. We were on a trail that goes all the way around the lake. For the most part, the trail is a bit rocky, but it is really rideable. No huge climbs or gnarly switch backs; just undulating single track that is really fun. The ground is very rocky and there are a lot of pine trees, so the trail drains really well and was not muddy at all. It is a great place to ride………..tell your friends! I was tooling along at a comfortable pace and then around mile 10 or so I realized I was getting tired and making lazy mistakes. I was feeling very disappointed in my riding…….well, actually, my cardio health and stamina. My technical skills were fine, but I sure did poop out quick. I was also getting low on water. It got up to about 80 degrees that day and I am certainly not used to that. I checked my clock and decided I was not up for 2 laps and wanted to be sure to get back after the hour and ½ cut off. I slowed down a little and just road like a total puss. Then, I saw the Christina in front of me walking her bike. As I got closer, I realized she did not have a tube or tire on her back wheel. I road up behind her and asked what had happened. She said she had been running for the last few miles!! She was flush and breathing hard and you could tell she was totally wiped out and frustrated. If I had been closer to the finish, I would have let her go before me, but I knew I had a couple more miles to go and I knew the girl behind me would be along if I dawdled too much. I apologized profusely as I passed her. Now I knew I was the leader and would probably get first place and I knew I was only a mile or two from the finish and the 1.5 hour limit was up, so I started to ride hard again. I figured I would get this thing over with, get a drink and then see if I could get this poor girl a wheel so she did not have to run any more. I crossed the finish and immediately told Brian and Bobby what was going on. Some guy I don’t know went to fetch a wheel while I went to grab some water. We strapped the wheel onto my Camelback and I headed back out on the trail to find Christina. However, I didn’t get far before I saw her running towards me. I informed her that she would be third if she ran on in, so she did. I just hung back and let her go. I still felt just awful. She collapsed after the finish and we gave her a jug of water that she chugged and dumped over her head.
For my efforts, I got a cool gold medal with the above logo and a pair of full finger gloves that I plucked out of a totally picked over pile of junky schwag.
Check out my photo gallery.
Brian & his side kick takin' care of business.
Dan O. has a bitchin' cool single speed!
Jessica and Andy line up to start race
I got my schwag!
Post race chillin'
bad ass bikes on my kick ass car(look Mom, my bike is clean!)
1 comment:
Hey Hot Legs...
Congrats on winning the rim wrecker.
I'm fine, just wanted to say hey.
-mike (just misguided - STL)
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