Apr 8, 2009

I wrapped up yet another endurance mountain bike race last weekend. For the record, since my "retirement" I said I would not do any training or racing longer than one water bottles worth of fuel. Well, 2009 has seen two 75+ mile road races and two 60 mile MTB races, so much for that plan.


I went into the Ouachita Challenge with a mighty goal, to finish. With over 200 starters it was a blast to be back in the MTB world with so many fun loving people. To start the race I didn’t even fill up my Hydrapack all the way because the plan was to stop at the three aid stations, refill on water and PB&J and continue on in a swift, but not race pace. Coming into the first station I found my self inside the top 10 and said, screw it, I'm racing now. I skipped that station in order to stay with my group for the 15 mile road/dirtroad section. We road well together, dropped some guys and hit the singletrack with a sizeable gap over the chasing 200 guys. I was now in the top five. After a quick stop at aid station numero dos I came out of Blowout Mountain in 2nd place and held that for the remaining 25 miles. My Santa Cruz Blur XC Carbon rode like butter (good thing) and, and by the end my legs felt like butter (bad thing). I was beat only by Jeff Kerkove of Team Ergon. He had it wrapped up early on, and deserved the win. According to his blog he was doing five hour winter rides in 22 degree temps, while I was 8 hour cubicle days in 68 degree temps.

Now Shannon is begging me to do the Joe Martin Stage Race in May. The good news is that Troy will be in town for it, perhaps he can convince me.

Also, Competitive Cyclist is now on Twitter. Twitter.com/compcyclistroad and Twitter.com/compcyclistmtb.

Have a good day folks!