Getting caught up

It's surprising to look at the calendar and see that it's almost Memorial Day weekend. How has May gone by so quickly?
On the good side, after the many, many weeks of preparation racing finally began. Though delayed an extra week because of less than delightful back injury, I recovered well enough to make it to the first MNSCS of the season held in Inver Grove Heights. We were down in the area because my wife's 91 yr old grandma had passed away and so they had a family gathering that weekend in the Twin Cities. 91!! Good gracious, and she was doing well right up til the last 2-3 weeks when a difficult intestinal surgery was required. Her & I didn't always see eye to eye, but if you'd met the lady, it was great to see how vibrant and engaging she was at an age when that descriptive language isn't regularly used. Most people not knowing better would have put her at a youthful 70ish. And still her vibrancy paled to that of Kate's grandpa, Bill. That guy would knock your socks of if you had to guess his age given his sharpness, mobility and activity level. He's like 93, but still golfs all the time, and goes about his day like he's almost 30 yrs younger. Both very inspiring & encouraging to see, may we all be so fortunate to have good health and active lifestyles into that point of life. I gotta tell SKJ, she's still gotta be doing MTB races with me at that age. Wow, think about that, bike racing for 60+ yrs of your life, that's awesome. And for Chuck Farrow, he'd be like doing it for 80 yrs by then!! Whoa! That's if all this crazy long enduro stuff he's into right now doesn't kill him first. But hey, without that goal out there, how else is it going to happen? Life is what you bring to it.
So, speaking of bringing to it.... that first race, Erik's Cup as they call it. Held at an elementary school with a good share of yet undeveloped property that accomodates for 4 or 5 miles of winding, curving, relatively smooth trails.
With nothing to gain or lose, I felt my back injury had come along far enough, to give it a shot. I signed up for the 5 lap Expert Race even if the 4 lap Comp race may have been more appropriate. What's the worse that could happen? (Let's not bring up USA cycling...) Anyways, like normal my race prep took longer than planned so I was relagated to the back row at the start. Didn't seem to matter much because everyone took off fast. I was happy to see how my body was reacting to the hardpace from the start -- my coach put in a good share of max effort intervals the last week of April to prep me for the nasty feel that a first race of the season can be. I can't say it was a perfect solution but it did buffer that normally horrible feeling quite nicely.
In a field of 50 racers or so I slide into the top 20-25 or so as we entered the single track on the first of five laps. The intensity was high and I was working my tail off but it was very bearable. It's a weird sensation to be going that hard and keep going that hard despite the body's desire to slow down. I got in behind Matt Muyres and stayed strong for the first 20min lap or so -- that's when the body finally over-road what my mind was thinking. As soon as we were onto the 2nd lap, a combination of my endurance at that speed along my back stiffening up occurred and I kissed that front group of 20+ good-bye. The 3rd lap had similar challenges as I needed to stand up several times to try & stretch my back, and some difficulties in making time for the gator-fuel (in my case it's PowerBar Endurance drink or water & Powerbar Gel). Fortunately laps 4 & 5, despite dropping additional spots, felt much better and I was at least able to finish relatively strong & without back pain. An 1:45 & in 34th place, about double of what I was looking for in my Expert race debut but I quickly put it in perspective given that challenges going into the race.
Next up news on "the new bike"..... and the Cable Off Road Classic review!