DClog

MTB Race @ East Macon Park

photos: Trish Albert southeasterncycling.com

This was the first race in the GSC (Georgia State Championship) mountain bike series. The turnout was impressive, the venue excellent and the promoters had it together - imagine this: COMPLETE results with lap times and podium presentations almost instantaneously. (We're STILL waiting on results from Perry-Roubaix from last week!)

It was HOT in the upper 80's. Road racing recently has acclimated me to the cold early mornings, but this was mountain bike racing in the middle of a hot afternoon and it was a shock to the body. I didn't drink nearly enough for the conditions and seriously over-heated at the end of my event, but was lucky that someone in the parking lot noticed my condition and took care of me until I recovered.

There were about 15 riders in my class, the Sport 50+, and we did 3 laps or about 1.5 hours of racing on a pretty tricky course. The course featured a BMX track (huge fun!), lots of elevation changes and quite a bit of sand and loose stuff in the corners.

I went into the single track in second position and about halfway through the first lap I took over the lead. I think I caught and passed most of the Sport 40-49 class who had started several minutes before us. Eventually a couple of pro riders, like Andy Johnston and Tim Johnson, came by me like I was standing still, those guys are just amazingly smooth and fast!

In spite of dehydrating and slowing down considerably toward the end, I maintained the lead and finished all in one piece. There were lots of really great folks and the prizes were good too - I'll be back.

Posted by dancoy at April 2, 2006 09:09 PM