Here's a quick recap of what has gone down. Sorry for the lack of detail, but there's a lot that has happened in 2 months. I hit Sea Otter in Monterey during mid-April. For the first time in three years of attending this event, it did not rain. I had my best go ever at the race and posted a fast time that I was happy with. Given the field size and quality of the competition, I was pleased with my placing in the low 30's. Click here for some pro photo's of me digging deep.
Soon after Sea Otter, Blue Star Racer Blog lost one of its biggest fans to cancer. A tough blow to endure following so soon after the loss of my Dad. Cancer just plain sucks, no other way to put it. I now often find myself thinking that RAL and my Dad are giving me the needed support to accomplish my racing and training goals. Mt. Snow is going to take on extra special meaning this year. Here's RAL and SLR last year at Nationals sporting some Blue Star t's.
I went back down to CA in mid may for NMBS #3 held near Solvang in wine country. A side note; the hotel I stay in down there was the one that the guys stayed at in the movie Sideways. I sucked at this race last year due to the heat, but felt like I was carrying some good fitness to do well this year. Not to be though because Mother Nature squashed those plans with another nasty heat wave. During the races, temperatures creeped up to 100+ degrees. Our top women Olympian MTB racer was evacuated from the course after going unconscious while riding due to heat stroke. My cool Pacific NW blood hates heat, so my engine had to keep the power down to avoid a massive overheating and a similar trip to the ER. My results for both the XC and short track reflect my lack of heat tolerance.
The next weekend, A-dogg, SLR, and I went up to Squamish, BC for a recon weekend of the trails used for the Test of Metal race and the 6th stage in the BC Bike Race. Got about 13 hours of hard saddle time over the course of the three-day weekend.
Views weren't bad from the trails.
Team Mafia Racing getting dialed for BC Bike Race.
Last weekend, Test of Metal was on my plate. It's a 42km race over some super-technical trails. My race plan was to attach myself to the wheel of a couple of fast locals and pedal as hard as I could for 3+ hours. The plan worked and I came in 2nd place out 100 finishers in my 30-34 age group. In addition, I was about 35th (out of 900+ racers) overall including the pros.
How do you stage almost 1000 racers for a mass start? 1 hour before race time the staging corral is opened and you save your spot by flipping your bike over. I was close to the front immediately behind the pros only area.
The feed zone was several hundred yards long with hundreds of people feeding their respective racers from both sides of the road. Chaos! That many people coupled with a DJ spinning tunes made for a party like atmosphere for SLR as she waited for me to come by twice.
The podi shot, minus 1st and 3rd place who both bailed to catch a ferry back to Nanaimo.
Blast off! And they keep coming, and coming, and coming...
This week was supposed to be some fine tuning of the form in preparation for the BC Bike Race that starts next Saturday. It is kind of bad timing to get sicker than you've been in almost 10 years the week before a 7-day stage race. I see the light at the end of the tunnel though and should be out of bed soon. Hopefully, this little set back does not have any lasting effects that impact me during the race.
Now, let's see if I can keep up this momentum and get some posts on here at regular intervals.
Thanks for reading,
Blue Star
1 comment:
Tough luck on getting sick. Good luck for BC sounds like an epic race
Post a Comment