PIR Short Track MTB Race Report 7/25/2011

Yikes! I forgot Monday’s ride report! Here’s a quickie:

To a certain degree, you could copy and paste my last STMTB report and that would be pretty accurate. This time out, though, all the Muddy Iguanas showed up, and my brother spectated. So you can scratch the “Lone Wolf” bits.

Like my last outing, I staged nearly at the back (with Chris). Thom was in the front third of the start, probably. Jimmy had a call up to the #2 slot (and finished #2 again).

I rode an easy first lap, but really the field was so crowded I barely had a choice. On Lap 3 or so I noticed I was within a few riders of Thom. I made him my carrot: my life’s mission was to Beat Thom. I rode flat-out, way past the red line on that lap and passed him, just barely, for most of Lap 4. Sometime during that or the last lap, I was caught in a small-scale pileup — a rider in another field washed out on a berm just ahead of me — had to dab, and lost about five places. That put Thom ahead of me. CURSES!

I worked hard in the last lap to catch him, picking off every other rider, but finished literally seconds behind him. My final place was 35 of 72

Stray thoughts:

• I rode without gloves or sunglasses. The gloves were no big deal, in fact my handling might have improved a little because I could feel the controls better. But no sunglasses? Oh that was brutal. The conditions were really dusty and my contacts were all gummed up.
• Racing with friends is way more fun than racing alone. Having my brother cheer in the stands gave me a little goose at the start of each lap.
• My new goal in life is to win a callup in STMTB. Or, failing that, to stage behind the guys who get a callup. The leader lapped me on Lap 2 or 3; those guys have a totally different race, one that would be much less frustrating for me.
• I had no warmup — rode the MAX to the race, actually — and I don’t think it affected me. But then: see Lap 1, above.
• I staged just behind a clydesdale weighing easily 300lbs. Guys like this are my fucking heroes. I do not say this lightly (thus the f-bomb), and mean it in all sincerity. They fight two battles I don’t have to fight: first, they are pushing a lot more weight than me, thus they work much harder. Second, they are not invisible (like me). Everyone is watching the fat guys. “Everyone” might be judging them positively (fucking heroes) or we might be judging them negatively (“does this guy seriously think he can contend?). Some events (MTB, Cyclocross, TT) are looser and more accepting than others (track, crits, Road) — but these guys choose to fight a fight I wouldn’t have the guts to fight. I didn’t see this guy after Lap 1, I hope he didn’t DNF.