Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Monday, April 07, 2003

Finally

I finally got a podium result in a mass start event. This last weekend was the Georgia Pines mountain bike race which is a part of the Georgia Association of Promoters race series. The event was held at the Macintosh Reserve Park outside of Whitesburg, Georgia on a fast, somewhat muddy course. Though I got out of the gate a little slow and got caught up behind a couple of early crashes, I found that I climbed better than about anyone out there and I had good stamina, at least until the last couple of miles. It was a two lap race on a six mile course with a surprisingly large number of sharp hills. I led the race for most of the second lap but a series of mechanical mishaps and small crashes cost me the win. I ended up taking second and I think I've moved up to about fourth in the overall GAP standings for my class (beginner) and age group (30-39). The guy who beat me had taken second in the first race of the series where I finished eighth due to poor tire selection (you can't use hardpack specific tires on a sloppy course) so I don't feel too bad about losing out to him, though if I had remembered to put a couple of gels in my jersey pocket I might have had the energy to hold him off. The next race is at the end of the month up on the 1996 Olympic course in Conyers. I'm pretty excited/awed to be racing on a course designed for the best names in the sport. Hoperfully I'll get a couple of chances to ride the course and see what awaits me. My next road race is this weekend around Raccoon Mountain outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. There's supposed to be a bunch of climbing so it'll be a good test of my fitness at the end of this training cycle.

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