Story time or race report? I think I owe a race report.

So, let's start with the first race I did after getting back from visiting family in Tucson.

It was a criterium, which is a short distance road race, usually around one mile per lap and each group races for a certain amount of time and does as many laps as possible in that much time. This particular crit had a hill in it and several turns, including one hard left hander in the middle of the downhill. Yes, in the middle of the descent you had to suddenly hang a hard left. So the course was technical, especially for a crit, which are usually flat and have four corners. I usually like more technicaly crits with hills because you can't just sit in the pack, soft pedalling, and wait for the sprint, you gotta work.

So this crit, in Auburn, starts and finishes on a hill. Really the start/finish line is just after the start of the hill. Well, you should have some back story, I had spent the last week not riding, eating lots of delicious food with my mom, sister, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, and only one of the three weeks before that training. A hill was not what I wanted to see with only one week of training in the last three. I figured, either I'd be well rested and feel like superman, or I'd get dropped on the second time up that hill.

After a half hour of warm up I hit the starting line next to my buddy Nate, who happened to be racing with me, feeling happy to be back on my bike and nervous about my fitness. To add to that another racer that knew me, who I couldn't place but liked, started hounding me about having one some big mountainbike race just a couple weeks earlier. Well, I assured him he was mistaken and then the race rolled out.

So, sure enough, after three laps I was feeling pretty good, and I felt like it wasn't going that fast, and it sure would be a good course to go off the front in, so I attacked at the bottom of the hill. Well as I attacked the promoter rang the bell to announce a prime (pronounced preem) lap. For those who don't know what that is, it means the first person across the finish line on the next lap wins a prize. Could be a pair of socks, or $10, or $300, depending on the race. Well, I didn't get off the front in my attack, but I was at the front. Coming around the final turn I was in second wheel and feeling good, so I sprinted for the prime and won it. Yay! Then the rest of the pack jammed past me going up the hill. OUCH! I gave it all I had just to stay in the group of 24 starters that was already whittled down to 18. I fought to stay in for the next eight or so laps before I got dropped from the group.

Well, before the race I had told Nate's girlfriend that if I was off the back, as I now was, that she had to cheer extra loud for me. I told her I'd make it worth while. As I came through the start/finish she held up her end of the bargain and cheered loudly. I had intended to drop out of the race at that point. But I had made a promise. So the next time around I came through swatting at the back end of my bike as if urging on a horse. This got the whole crowd going. So the next time through I did a little breakdance move with my arms as more people began cheering me on to my OTB (off the back) finish. The promoter even stuck out his rump as if he expected me to give it a swat as I came by. At this point I was having lots of fun and getting a great workout. My heartrate maxed out at 196 beats per minute on that course. So, I finished the race, OTB and one lap down, but happy.

The best part, besides having had fun despite poor fitness, was when I went to collect my prime and it turned out to be $50! That was great because it covered all my gas money to and from the race, and little extra.

Well, stay tuned, there are four more race reports that I need to catch up on, and a new one to be remembered after this Sunday. And I'll keep working on that story.