First Race is in the Books!

Well, this is a little late in coming, but the season looks to be upon us. We had our first weekend of racing in Tennessee last week, and it was great. I mean, really great. Kevin Freeman's "Beat the Freak" series http://svmiccycling.com/beatthefreak.aspx kicked it off in true 'cross fashion, with a rainy race on Saturday (wasn't there but I heard it was something special!) and a clear, beautiful, sunny, high-70's day on Sunday. I won't pretend to know what I'm talking about re:Saturday, but Sunday's course was short, sweet and to the point. Oh, yeah, and muddy.

I worked all day Saturday with Rebuilding Together http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/ and woke up Sunday sore and tired. Woke up late, actually, and we left the house about 30 minutes later than I'd have liked. We arrived at the venue, and I registered and jumped on the bike for a reconnoissance lap. I rode about 28psi up front and 33 in back. Boy, was I beat by the end of that lap, but I really had a feeling the course would play to my strengths. It was a muddy, sloppy, slog through a lot of pretty flat grassy areas, some good little tight turns, and over a big sand pile. The sand was really soft and grabbed a good hold on your shoes, especially when you have mud shoved up in there. Not much high-speed stuff, for which I was thankful. One set of barriers and the sand mountain were your two dismounts on the day. The mud was of many varieties, including your typical "thin on top thick below" mud; your "sloppy grass with mud beneath"; and my own personal favorite, the "slick mud submerged under brown water" mud.

I lined up in the 4's (still desperately trying to get out of the 4's...) in the second row. I really should have lined up in the front, but I was so tired, and it was the first race of the season. There was a good turnout of guys I'd never seen before, especially guys who jumped right to the front row. The starter let us loose, and we rumbled down the starting stretch. A gap opened up and I jumped through before we left the pavement. I was sitting in second (I think) for the first half lap, then one of the Cumberland Transit guys made a move. I hung with him as long as I could for a while, then kinda' just let him go. The leader for most of the race was a guy named Zach, from Alabama. He rode well 'til he tripped on his wheel during a dismount, but props to him for hanging tough and finishing strong.

We rode 5 laps, but probably should have done 6, and it was just a beautiful, sloppy mess. I rode a strong race to finish 3rd, my first podium finish EVER (yay!). If I can keep it up (ie, if it's not a fluke...) I will be ready to cat up soon. Not sure if I should go to the Masters, or the 3's, but whatever I do, I won't move up until I'm confident I won't get lapped. Because the only thing worse than getting lapped is DNF'ing.

We got a lot of good feedback and comments about the frames, and the "team" kit. A few folks expressed interest in having frames built, and things are really taking off. My 'cross bike, performing under the stage name "Hildegaard von 'Crossenbrandt", performed well, offered plenty of mud clearance, and generally made me really happy. There's nothing quite like racing a bike you built for yourself. The new skinsuit performed well, and has now been dedicated to muddy races, while the other skinsuit (as yet unworn) will be for the drier days.

My wife and I did the MS 150 Bike to Jack and Back again this year (nearly 900 riders and $585,000 raised - not shabby!), so I missed out on our first weekend of the Nashville series. The weather was great though, and I guarantee the folks in Nashville had as much fun as we had riding for the MS Society. Thanks for reading, folks. It's the most wonderful time of the year!