Sorry for the delay in this posting.  First our computer crashed.  Then for some reason I can’t get the camera to upload some really cool photos.  And my wife had family in for the holidays so we have been slammed.  It is hard to do this write up without the photos, but I will go ahead and hopefully come back with photos of Henderson NC and this race.

This race took place in Cullman, AL. a couple of weeks ago.  It was the final race of the Alabama series.  It takes place at a little park with a small lake in the middle.  The course winds its way around the lake.  As I have mentioned before, we have had a lot of rain this season.  Two days before Cullman was no different.  A day before Cullman was no different.  It finally started slacking off on Saturday afternoon, but everything was already soaked by that point.  BUT the big news was that the lake had overflowed into several small “fingers” (ditches really) around the lake.  The course crossed about 5 of them.  One of them was pretty major and the water was between 12 and 18 inches deep.  There was also a low-laying area between two of the fingers that was about 4 inches deep in water and who knows how deep in mud.

It was cold, but I got there in time to pre-ride the course.  Most of it was rideable at that point.  Even the deep ditch was rideable by a few riders.  So, I felt pretty good about it.  I was concerned about the deep water crossing though.  I decided that the risk in riding through something that deep, when you can’t even see what you are riding on was too great.  But that meant that I would have to take several steps each lap in the COLD water up to my shins/calves.  Still not sure how you stay warm when the tempature is just above freezing and you get that submerged in the water.  ANY SUGGESTIONS?

I got a pretty good warm up and felt pretty good.  Went to the Start line with the smallest field of the year.  It was only about 30+.  One thing I like about this race is that they have the drumline from the local high school come out.  Yeah, that’s right, we can compete with the Pacific Northwest.  It was cool though that they were pounding out the beat to get us going.  I didn’t get a great start, but it was a decent stretch of pavement before we turned to hit the first water crossing.  So, I manged to pass about 5 riders and hit the first ditch in 2nd place.  Hit is the key word here.  The mud had been churned up by the earlier race and the other pre-rides.  I made the first half fine, but as I hit the second dip, my front tire locked up in the mud and I ended up at a 90 degree angle.  Thus I was HIT by the next 2 riders behind me.  I finally got myself out of the mud, but at least 15-20 guys had passed me by then and the three leaders already had a gap. 

So, I was fighting at that point.  I got on the gas as best as I could.  With the exception of the water crossings, this course still favored me even with the mud.  So, I was working hard to pass some guys as I went along.  The deep water crossing was not really fun…I could do without that.  But the rest was cool and I was able to pass a few guys and I ended up in 7th place.  Not too bad considering my mad skillz in the mud…or lack thereof.

I then went to the car to try to get warm and changed my socks and shoes to get ready for the “B” race.  I got back to line…after everyone else had started.  But I was still feeling pretty good.  Caught and passed a few people and felt like I was actually riding better.  The back side of the course was down in some woods below the dam.  It had a lot of roots, etc.  About the 3rd lap of my second race a guy in front of me went down hard.  I’m not even sure what he hit.  He just ended up flying through the air and landing on his head and shoulder.  He didn’t look too good, so I stopped to check on him.  He said he was alright, but he wasn’t moving.  Another guy stopped, so I left to get help.  Cut the course to find the promoter, so I had to pull the plug on that race. Not sure how the guy ended up. Hope he was ok.  But it still was a few extra hot laps for me.  

All in all not a bad day.  My daughter went with me and took some cool photos.  I will try to get them up once we get the camera to upload correctly.  She braved the cold and it was fun to have her along.  Seems like I have had some good starts with no real results to show for it.  I’ve got to figure out something to fix it.  Bryan gave me some ideas for the next few weeks.  We have races in Tenn and NC and a local guy is doing a winter “race” series.  His will probably be more of a training series, but a guy from Hup United has managed to get some prizes together.  I will probably do some of the Tenn races and then maybe some of the local races in Georgia since they are much closer to me.   It looks like I will get in at least 3 of the next 5 weekends.  So, I will have 4-8 more races in this season.  Just depends on which races I can do and if I can do both days of the Tenn races.  So, maybe I can finally get a decent result this season.   Looks like I am going to Nashville this weekend for the Columbia Winter Cup #1 and #2.  I will let everyone knows how it goes.  I did Bryan’s first Interval training on Saturday.  So, hopefully that will help.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Talk to ya’ll later.

DS

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