Cape MTB Race - I only sucked a little

Finally had fun at a MTB race. Cape race had perfect weather, awesome cheering section and somewhat different race crowd than the St Louis area races. 4 of us made the trek to Cape Girardeau- Mary (Wonder Woman) Piper headed down with us after winning her division at the LSL Triathlon the day before, Jay was determined to podium again, Nathan was ready to rock his first MTB race (and rock he did) and I was welcoming getting back on the MTB.

- what's Nathan looking at?


This Cape Race didn't kick my ass like some others. Here's the summary of my races so far:
1. Lost Valley - my 1st race ever. Felt great at the start. Felt like shit somewhere at the 10 minute mark, fell 3 times and in general sucked. Finished 9th out of 17.
2. Council Bluffs - rode 2 laps of Council Bluffs for fun a few weeks before this race. Hated the course on the first lap - hated it more on the 2nd lap. On that day it was hot as hell for a Saturday in early March and my quads cramped hard during the 2nd lap from not eating and dehydration. Classic quote left on my lovely wife's voice mail: "honey we'll be home in 2 hours. Don't call me because I'm to tired to talk." Less than two weeks later and because missouri weather is friggin great, the night before this race it snowed 4 inches (wtf Missour weather). This annual race is called the Rim Wrecker; aptly named because there are some monster rock gardens. Because of melting snow (it was all gone by noon - our race started at 11am) it was "epic conditions", as the Team Seagal guys call it, with rivers of water running under the wheels. Surprisingly, traction was excellent. Turns out the wet clay and silt are good for tire traction and good for wrecking brakes. The bike shops in St Louis ran out of pads because nearly everyone replaced their disk brake pads after the race. Most were using their feet to stop by the end of the race because brake pads had worn away. Summary: It was hard. Finished 6 out of 7. Was in 4th until the last 3 miles where I didn't have anything left and lost two places. I still can't believe I beat anybody. He must have flatted.
3. Rhett's Run in Columbia, MO - more epic conditions. Hard rain the morning of the race made the fast rocky course slick as snot. On the warm-up lap before the race I turned right after a summit to go down a double-track rocky road, front tire slipped out and I fell hard on my right hip on a nice hard as a rock rock (probably a fist sized diamond it was so hard). Hip was torture for the next 90 minutes of racing. Of course it got hot and humid after the rain quit. Summary - I sucked.

Missed St Joe Park race in Farmington because I didn't schedule my Sunday morning right. Was the hottest weekend of the year so maybe I was better off missing that race. One dude got heat stroke and was hauled to the hospital. Jay "Iron Man" Wright made the podium - sweet. I then missed the next 4 raced because of water ski tournaments. One advantage of water ski tournaments is beer gardens and bikinis.

5. Cape Race - this last weekend and my type of conditions. Some steep up hills so I can pass the crazy downhill dudes, no rocks, no mud, hell yeah. Started OK, avoided a potential pileup in the first mile where a dude behind me messed up in a valley and cruised into the woods. I didn't look back, just heard cussing and sticks breaking. Passed a few, got passed, passed some more and ended up 7th (I swear some money changed hands cause I counted 6th at the scorers table - must have been that dude in the yellow jersey (not lance)). Missed the next lap by 16 seconds and I honestly felt I could have picked up a place. I need to get older - would have won the 40 yr old class. 3 years then podium? We'll see. Need to get faster, learn to drink in better areas of the race and push hard 'till my heart pops straight out of chest. This is fun isn't it!

Nathan "Lightning McQueen" Lafferty finished 1st in his very first race in B 20-29, Jay got second to some dude he usually runs right over. It wasn't his favorite course conditions (no mile long rock gardens, no 98*F weather, no rivers of water and no mountains to climb) and he still got 2nd in B 30-39. Mary rocked as usual and finished 3rd in Women's Sport. Good day for the Schlafly crew.