5 Mile Pass MTB

Hey guys. I made it through another mountain bike race. Kind of a strange race with a good result. But first, the really cool news is that Tanner completed his first real race. He raced in the 13 - 15 beginner class and finished 5th out of 6 racers. All of the other kids had raced many times and Tanner did OK. He finished the difficult 11 mile lap in 1 hour 18 minutes. His time was better than a number of the adult beginners. He struggled on the climbs, but did well on the down (sounds like his Dad). All in all, he was pleased with his effort and excited to ride his bike more.

I ended up 2nd in the 40+ expert class. This matches my best finish. However, I really had to work hard and had a slower time than last year. I just didn't have good legs and could not punch it on the climbs. I had to back off and spin up everything. We had a small group and I dropped to last after the 1st climb. However, it is a long race and I thought if I road steady, I could probably get a few places back. Turns out I went from last to 2nd over the last half of the race. It is a real power course that doesn't let up. I was definately ready to be done after 2 and 1/2 hours.

Chris Bingham on our team easily won my class. He is impressive. He got a flat and still beat me by 6 minutes. Without the flat, he would have had a top 5 time overall, including pros. He raced with Glen back in the day on the Schwinn / Wheaties team and finished 26th in the first MTB world championships won by Ned Overand. Chris is just getting back into racing after about 6 or 7 years off. He and Glen can put the hurt on the rest of us old guys.

Our team had a good day Saturday. Chris and I were 1, 2 on the dirt. At the Antelope Island road race, we had a 3,4 finish in the Cat 1/2, a 4th in the Cat 3's, Glen won the 35+ Masters, and Cherell Jordin (Aaron's wife) won the women's Cat 4.

Tanner finished up his hunter's safety class tonight (I took it with him) at the shooting range. He's now offical. We're planning on doing some bowhunting together. There were a bunch of SLC Cops out at the range and we thought of Russ. Lots of noise on that end of the range.

I'm not racing Saturday. Doug and I talked about riding early. I need to be home by noon or so. You guys in?

Daren