I made the solo trek out to beautiful Comfort, Texas Firday night for a 52 mile marathon race Saturday morning. This race wasn’t originally on my to-do list, but after my two week hiatus from training, I figured it’d be a good way to jump start the race systems. I entered the race with a training mentality, i.e., I wasn’t looking for a podium finish but rather a good long solid effort. But as always, if I saw a good opportunity, I wasn’t going to let it get away. Good thing I had my training mentality that day…

Comfort has never been nice to my bikes, and this time was no different. A flat in mile one pretty much put me out of contention since everyone passed me and I would be caught in traffic for the first half of the race. I’m beginning to learn that the seatpost I use is great for smoother, shorter races, but it can get rattled loose in long rough courses. I had to stop and tighten it back down a little ways into the 2nd lower loop.

I had some renewed interest in the race when I spotted a teammate at the top of a switchback at the beginning of the 2nd upper loop and saw it as a good 12 hour race simulation to pull in a fast rabbit on the last lap when things were really hurting, so I dumped a ton of effort into doing so. That there is the type of pain that endurance junkies crave! I never caught him (he is a very fast rabbit) but i did close it in to about 20 seconds. So even though i finished DFL (last, for you those unfamiliar with mountain biking jargon) in the open category, I met my goals of getting a good 5 hour ride in, burning some matches, toughing out some colder weather, and the added bonus of a rabbit chase at the end. Even with the mechanicals, my time of 5:03 was a personal best for that course, and I was taking it easy for much of the day, so that’s good to know. All in all, it was a good day to be on the bike.

One last week here of hard workouts and then it is time to taper for the big race Feb 7.