Wow it has been a while since I last posted. After the MS150 I took a bit of a break from writing my cycling adventures. On May4th I raced in the GHORBA Big Ring Challenge at Double Lake near Coldspring, TX. My event was at 1:30 PM so I got to the park about 10:30 to begin getting ready.
We got to the race in time to watch Matt complete his second lap and start his third. We stuck around the finish line until he finished. He seemed to do a pretty good job.
I remember that for some reason my legs were really tight so before the race I kept trying to stretch but it did not really seem to help. While the experts raced, I made a few more trips back up and down the road to warm up.
While I warmed up, Vanessa helped with registration by marking legs. About this time the other beginners started to show up. There were several of us in the same age group. From the Woodlands we had myself, Chris V, and Seth. From work Chris E. and lastly Dan R.
When the race started we had a nice up hill sprint on the paved road before making the tight enterance to the single track. I entered the single track on Chris V's wheel. He was just on Dan's wheel. As the riders started to build up behind us we began looking for places to pass. That did not happen and as we came into a tight corner, Dan slowed up just enought that Chris and I rubbed wheels. Being in the back naturally I fell over, and lost about 10 places in the field. By this time my HR was up and I was just pushing to try to catch back up. Eventually I caught Dan and passed him. After that, I was mostly riding by myself. I completed the first lap in about 49 minutes. As I came through the feed zone I grabbed the glass of water and dumped it on my head. That felt good. I threw my cup and then passed a rider on the road that was infront of me. The second lap was tough. I needed to eat but did not want to stop, and could not find a smooth enough section to eat a gel. So I pressed on.
When I finally finished I had an average HR of over 180. Which is pretty high since my max is 199. My final place was 31st. With over 40 starting, I feel pretty good about my results.
Double Lake was my only race for the spring series. My goal is to ride the mountain bike more during the summer.
