February 18th, 2006
Renaissance Park Short Track, Charlotte NC
Sir Edmund Halley's Cup, Race # 5
It's the last race of the series, and it's 39 and cloudy. Weather report for today is wintry mix possible. Umm sounds like loads of fun. So Jaime & I are sitting in the top five of the series overall and ready to get this one over with. The drive up from Cola. town was pleasant, a great time to strategies and fire each other up about a podium finish.
No sooner than pulling into the parking lot the drizzle starts. Yeah, this is going to be awesome (not). Jump out the truck to go register and holy crap it's ten degrees colder than Cola. At the registration table I couldn't keep from shivering while filling out my info. I couldn't even make out my own name and address. Dropped off entry fee, stood by the kero heater and then bolted back to the truck to contemplate why in the hell we are going through with this. How easy it could have been to nap till the awards diner three hours later.
Time to man up, and get into the spirit of competing. After warming up on the trainer and somewhat feeling better it was 2pm and time to race. A nice chug of Hammer Gel & I'm ready to race. Toe up to the line and go, 60min. of pure fun in slick mud. Good thing I decided to finish off the series on the single 29er. At no surprise to me the leader went off quick and Jaime set out after him. This was good because Jaime was tied for third overall. Meanwhile, I sat on the wheel of Mr. I'm going to cut you off and go slow in the woods guy (tied w/ J). So knowing this I was content to just let this guy push the pace for the next 40min. Yeah I sat on his wheel the whole time. Speaking from experience if you have someone riding on your wheel you tend to ride harder than normal. Yes, this was my intent to just make him self-destruct. Besides if he wanted 3rd overall he had to catch Jaime, and guess who he would have taken with him.
After about 30min. of watching this cat ricochet around on the trail, I decided to make a pass and see what damage he had done to himself. Yeah he was hurting but not done. Two laps later he caught back up to me. So for another 15min. I let him go. Still on his wheel and pushing hard, he started making the noises I had been waiting for. You know the noises of pain and self-destruction. Last lap he gets back in front. So he tries to make a move on the last climb, but he couldn't drop tiny T. So he tried another attack on the final stretch into the finish, but I wasn't having it. Team Harrell's Bicycle World needed two podium spots. I was able to close the gap and sprint past to take third place. Sprinting on a single speed bike is a unique trick. Especially against someone running multi gears.
Victory for the Harrell's Team, 2nd and 3rd in the final race of the series. Overall Jaime was able to edge out Mr. I'm going to cut you off and go slow in the woods guy. As for me a 5th overall due to missing race #3. Anyway like I've said before it's all just training for the bigger and faster races. So on that note I'm off to prepare for my next event, the Georgia State Singlespeed Championships (Mar. 19).
Happy Trails Folks,
Toby
No comments:
Post a Comment