Florida State Championship Series: Race #1- A race report

After many months, my first race arrived. It's been a long road to get here, but it's been a fun ride... pardon the pun. So, why don't we get on with the details of my first(the first of many) race.

My original plan was to leave on Friday, but that fell through, so Saturday morning I departed for Tallahassee. In trying to get all my gear together for the race I realized something...I have a lot of sh,...crap.

Gawd, I sure do have a lot of junk to take!

The plan was to meet up with Pat for a pre-ride of the course. Looking back, getting more ride time on their trails would've been a good thing, but what's done is done. Considering that the race would consist of 2 laps of the 6.5mile course, more time on the trail would've definitely been a good thing.

Pat, Cal, and myself got registered and headed out for our recon of the course.
It wasn't even the race and already I was a bundle of nerves. I was struggling along at a snail's pace, or at least it seemed that way. It may have been because Cal, who is super fast(he'd go on to take 6th place in the 40+ expert category, riding a single speed!), was the one in the lead. Anyway, to add insult to injury (or in this case, add injury to insult), I'm zooming down this descent and I drift to the outside as I get to a turn, and to my horror I see numerous holes...and that's all she wrote. Down I went. My knee was scraped up pretty good, and I was shaken. It wasn't till later that I discovered my helmet was cracked. Things are not off to a good start. I go for a good meal Saturday night, and figure that a good night's rest will do me good. I'm in a funk, and I need all the help I can get.

Sunday morning I get up feeling better, or at least in a better mood. After some pancakes at Village Inn, I'm like a new man.

A day at the races...

It's 8:30 and I'm 1hr away from my start time. The butterflies are starting to make their presence known. I get the bike ready, and fill up my Camelbak with energy drink. Going into this I thought I'd save some weight and just go with a water bottle, but after the previous day's ride where I hardly touched my water bottle, I knew that would be a mistake. It was too hot to do something stupid like forgetting to drink. I do about 15 minutes worth of warm-up and then I head over to the staging area because my class will be going in about 10 minutes.

As ready as I'll ever be.

Beginner 30-34 has just taken off. Beginner 35-39 is called to the line. We've got 2 minutes to wait, which seems like it takes forever. Those damned butterflies...there must be a flock of them. I'm tensed up; my arms, my neck...I'm trying to relax, but that's a lost cause. 15 seconds to go. The horn sounds and I'm off. I get a decent start, but I couldn't tell you what place I'm in at this point. From the starting line we make a hard left and ride around the perimeter of a BMX track. We enter the BMX track for a lap before getting to the singletrack. Trying to ride a BMX course fast enough to maintain your place, but at the same time trying not to go so fast that you're catching air and risking wadding it up, is quite a trick. By the time we enter the singletrack the riders had spread out, which surprised me. Other than 3 riders in front of me, I didn't see anyone in my class for almost the entire first lap. I was keeping the closest rider in check, not letting him get more than 20 or so ft ahead of me I exit the first bit of singletrack and come to one of the many climbs on the course. I'm in a good position to overtake the guy right in front of me, but I'm surprised at how close the next two riders are. I manage to pass two of the three riders, but I can't get to that third guy before the climb ends and turns into a descent.

A couple more climbs and I'm getting in striking distance of that next rider. I come to the spot where I had wrecked the day before, but this time I stick to the inside and have no problems. By now my butterflies are gone, and I'm feeling pretty good. I've passed a couple of riders and I'm maintaining a good pace. Right around the corner and I'm on the back tire of that guy when all of a sudden he just pulls off the trail and gets off his bike. Not sure what happened, but I'm not gonna question it, I'll take all the help I can get. We finally get passed all the exposed climbs which were tough, due to the heat. It was already pushing 90 degrees and it wasn't even 10am yet. After passing some riders from the 19-29 and 30-34 categories I'm feeling really good about my effort. But, oh how things change. This course is pretty technical, mainly roots, but there are a couple of STEEP walls that you have to go up. If you've got speed you can get up them fairly easy. I come up on one of those walls and another rider was parked right in the middle of the trail, trying to walk up the wall. No surprise, I just had to hit the brakes and walk up as well. In trying to climb up it, I can't get any grip and I slip and fall. What made it bad was I fell on the same side that I had injured the day before, including scraping the same spot on my knee!
To top it off, one of the riders(from my class) I had passed earlier on got around me. The fall ticked me off, but that guy getting around me flat out pissed me off. I get back on my bike and I make it my mission to get reel that guy back in.

This was lesson 1 learned. I shouldn't have concerned myself with losing that spot. As it was, I pushed too hard. I pushed, and never caught sight of him. I still managed to lap some riders from other classes, but I was suffering towards the end of that first lap. At one point I was wishing that Martians would land and vaporize me, saving me the trouble of trying to finish the race.

The next lap I struggle to maintain the pace, but overall the last lap goes by without any great drama. Towards the end of the last lap I get passed by a rider from the beginner 40+ class, only to pass him back, and that kinda gives me a renewed feeling and I finish the race feeling pretty good. That said, I was ready for the race to be over. I don't know how I would've performed on a third lap.

It's over, thank God!

I wasn't prepared for the intensity of a race. My last hard ride at home, my HR averaged around 165bpm, with a max HR of 186-187. My average HR today was 177, with a max of 192.

Time to get off this bike!

There were 14 riders in my class, and my effort was good enough for 7th place. I felt good about the results. I had given it my all, so I have no regrets. Considering what my HR was averaging, there weren't many more RPM's left in the engine.
A mid field finish in my first race was a major victory for me. This time a year ago I weighed over 300lbs, and wouldn't have even contemplated competing in a race. This was the first of many races to come. Sure it was painful, but the feeling of accomplishment far outweighed the pain.

I've got good strong legs, so I just need to work on my aerobic engine. I do that and I think my fellow racers are going to have to look out for me.


How about a couple of random pictures from the race?

Expert women.


One of the many Sport classes.


Pat, gettin' ready to rock n' roll.


Even the kiddies get into the act.


Todd May, the owner of Higher Ground Bicycles, and "The Burro"

The Sport and Expert classes went at 11:30 and I sure did feel bad for them. By the time they headed out the temperature was pushing 100 degrees. As a matter of fact, it was 100 before the race was totally over. I was shocked at the number of riders throwing their bikes down and either laying down or sitting with their head in their hands. One guy dropped out of the race. His wife and kids poured water on him, trying to get him cooled down.

Suffering from dehydration.

It was a great time, and I look forward to my next race, along with better and better results. I hope everyone enjoyed this, I sure have talked about it enough.