The second race in the Cranky Monkey Series was held at Fountain Head Regional Park today. I raced the first in the series of three at Wakefield Park a couple weeks ago but it was basically flat and not technical so writing a report doesn’t rate for much so I’ll just say I took 5th in the old man category, but Fountain Head is a different story. Rutty, Rocky and Rooty with short steep technical climbs and cute names for them like “Lung Buster” and “Heart Popper” or something like that. Then the downhill’s are loaded with drop-offs, more rocks and roots. All in all it was a battle royal what with the tight twisty single track, trees, sharp objects, soft sandy soil, and slower riders up ahead. Me, being a nice guy made it tough to stay with the lead guy’s in my group but I was able to get by most traffic on the technical climbs since I don’t mind blazing a trail to get around dabbing riders. Actually it’s a great ego boost to out ride the youngsters with my age written on my leg while offering them words of encouragement. After the first 9 mile lap and successfully descending “Shock-a-Billy Hill,” or something like that, I started my charge to try and reach the lead guys in my group and as I began to pick off riders I noticed none of them were in my category until about 2 miles to the finish when I made contact with one of my people. I sat on his wheel hoping to find his weakness until he asked me what group I was in and being a nice guy I answered “yours” at which time he sprinted away and showed me my weakness, nice guys’ finish 5th.
4 comments:
yea...
I remember catching the leader in a race at Green Ridge State Park some years back
I caught the leader
he was dying
this would take me from second to first
as we made the final climb towards the finish we talked as I started to make the pass
I learned that he had lost his waterbottle on the first decent
so I offered him one of mine
he took it
then he took the lead
I got second
which was fine
No, no, no--you've read the directions wrong. You're supposed to have your heart on your sleeve, NOT your age on your leg.
cool picture !
The first time I rode "Shock-A-Billy" was on a night ride. Peter Beers was in front of me, and just suddenly disappeared. Next thing I knew, I was at the bottom... and still alive! Way to go on the race. The CM series was the first race(s) I ever did, great events! Unfortunately, couldn't make any of them this year...
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