Greensfelder Challenge

So I thought I would try my hand at some more bike racing this year.  I signed up for the Cat 2 40-49 age group.  I did not know what to really expect when it came to going head to head with some of the guys I see on the trail all the time.  All I can say is I have left plenty of room for improvement.  First thing learned; don't show up for a race with a bike that is not race ready.  During my pre-ride early in the week I had dropped my chain around 7 times in two laps.  The race was two laps and I dropped my chain five times.  I also knocked off my stem captain with my daughters picture on it.  I spent some time looking for it, telling my self I was not going to leave the woods with out her.  The most frustrating thing  about the chain drop situation was that I had to pass the same group of riders so many times. 

The second thing I learned is that I am in no real "race" shape whatsoever.  Greensfelder is a tough course that will test all your skills.  I was up for it from the general bike handling aspect of things.  The trouble came in the ole high intensity aspect of racing.  A few time I felt the pain down in the gut that only a hard, to the limit effort can give you.  The feeling was both nice and worrisome, seeing that it came when I was trying to chase on the lead group half way through the first lap.  Nice because it had been a while since I had that feeling, but I was not sure if it was going to subside or not.  Not soon after the rock garden I began to feel better but it was really too late.  The race had already passed me by.

I went back out for my second lap and pushed hard.  I began to see many familiar faces and was glad to be back with such a good crowd racing my bike.  I ended up 8th out of 19 on the day.  I can't complain seeing that I probably posted higher in the results than I deserved with all the chain issues that I was having.  A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon with a bunch of like minded Jerks.