Racing the Boy

I'm pretty jealous Doug and Budda will be at the US Track and Field Olympic Trials this weekend and next week. The Trials are nearly as dramatic as the Olympics. Having one shot to make the big show makes for high drama. A former neighbor and friend of mine was 4th in the '84 3,000 meter steeple chase trials after leading with 200 meters to go. He still hadn't gotten over it years later.

I love the Olympics. I've been to both a Winter (SLC) and Summer games (Atlanta) as well as the Olympic Marathon trials in Columbus in 92. All were great experiences and very emotional. I watched the cycling RR in Atlanta and it was a blast. Watching Frankie A almost win a medal after working for the LA Doper all day was very cool. I scored an official Gold Medal winning Swiss team water bottle that I still have today. Olympic archery is very important to Easton as well. Our arrows have won all the medals in the last 9 games (in Athens, 131 of 132 archers shot our arrows) and we'll do the same this time.

Tanner and I have been officially racing against each other recently. We did the Salt Aire TT last week and plan to do the PC Hillclimb TT in a couple of weeks. We'll combine the times to determine the winner. I have a one minute lead after the flat 6.75 mile TT. We'll see if it's enough to hold off the skinny climber. We've yet to determine the prize for the winner, but I'll come up with something good. Last night Tanner and I raced in the A group at the Solitude Midweek MTB race (a 7 week series). Turns out the A group is Pro, Semi-Pro and "Fast" Experts so we battled for last. I managed to put enough time on the T-Man on the descents to pull off the win. I even managed to beat all the Expert B's were I should be racing. Too bad there's cash prizes at the end of the series and I could have won some coin in the B's. Oh well, you get faster racing faster guys.

Even with getting worked by the big boys, the Solitude race was a blast. It's three, 4 mile laps and was an hour 10 minutes for me. The setting is spectacular, the course is really fun and drilling it for just an hour is great. Being somewhat functional after an MTB race was a different experience. I can't wait to do it again. So much better and doing circles at RMR in 100 degree heat and wind. We'll see if I can hold off Tanner next time. It could be epic.