Two Wheel Blogs

It is official, the Tall Oaks race is history. Many of you were probably in attendance, but for those of you not there, read on....

Today was a hot day, and the humidity was high. The trails were in nearly perfect condition...in retrospect they were perfect because things only started to get dusty at the very end. The turnout was big too. There were racers from all over, and many were ready to rock and roll.

I opted to race the sport class instead of expert...there are a few reasons, but the best one perhaps was that I do not belong in expert class...plain and simple.

The Expert class shot off the line and started fighting for position immediately. It was really humbling to watch. Those guys were fast.

As for my race, we took off similarly. There was quite a bit of elbowing for position going into the woods, and I did not want to fight for a lead position only to be later passed, so I resigned to somewhere around 8th going into the woods. This turned out to be a mistake. Every climb I suffered miserably as a single speeder behind a group of geared riders. I was forced to exit the trail in order to pass the ones I was able to pass (in hind site, I realize no one ever passed me, but I passed about 20 riders in various classes).

I need not tell you that I was not up for the event today..that was evident from my choice to abandon after two laps. The fighting for position, the lack of sleep, the many hours of riding this past week, and perhaps a few other excuses were factors leading to me feeling deeply fatigued entering the third and final lap. I honestly felt like if I held the wheel of the rider in front of me (3rd place), I may suffer a crash. My trail craft was suffering (that is how I know that I am tired usually), and I was fearful that I could have ended this race badly.

My view on my performance is that I learned a few things today...and that is a good thing. I also know that I did this race for only one reason....I did that for just over an hour, at which point it started not being fun anymore. That was when I got out of the way. My real passion this year has just been to ride and have fun...Mission accomplished!

G-wiz and 2-old were present, and both of them did phenomenally! I am sure they will tell their stories soon.

In the end, I feel that I probably could have gutted out that last lap...and been caught by several of the riders behind me. But as it is I got a great workout, and I will rest well tonight for having had it.