Daren the Spectator

Well, I've been sick for nearly 2 weeks now and I'm tired of it. I tried to race the crit Wed. night lasted about 12 minutes before getting dropped and then felt terrible Thurs. I was hoping for a great recovery for the MTB race Saturday, but no such luck. Remarkably, I did the right thing and watched the race instead of suffering for 2 1/2 hours.

Even though it was difficult to watch my group go by without me, it was fun to watch Doug and Tanner race hard. They both did very well and I got some good pictures around the course. Tanner had a bit of a machanical and fell back early. However, he battled back and finished a close 4th out of a big group of juniors. If the race would have been longer, he would have been at least 2nd. Doung is getting more comfortable on the MTB and was competitive with the old guys. He finished 4th as well but was only 4 minutes off the winner. I was proud of both of them.

Doug had a bike issue while warming up and had to ride my bike. I guess it was good I didn't race. The down side is now Doug wants another new bike!

Here's Doug on the opening climb. That's a really cool bike he's on.

Tanner ripping in down hill (Doug's in the distance. Doug's group started a minute ahead of Tanner's group. However, the T-man ended up finishing about 8 minutes in front of Doug.)

Tanner beginning a long single track climb.

Doug not far behind on the same climb.

Tanner coming off the difficult single track descent.

Doug survives the descent. If you look closely, you can see the blood on this right arm.

Every time I do a MTB race, I know it is a big effort and that I'm suffering on the climbs. Some times, I think I'm the only one suffering. However, after watching about 150 riders go by me yesterday on a difficult climbing section I can confidently say ALL 150 were in the pain cave. Some were in a little deeper than others, but they were all there. It's kind of comforting to know that racing is communal suffering.

It was also interesting to notice all the different body types of the races. The pro's were very lean and just look fast. The experts are lean and fit looking, the sport class riders are a little less fit looking and the beginers look pretty average. However, I have a great deal of respect for anyone willing to put in the effor to race on the dirt. The effort level is about the same for all groups. The speed and time just goes up with the higher level groups.

Wish me luck this week. I'd like to be a bike racer again!

Daren