I made the short jaunt out to Warda with teammates Nick and Dustin, and lady friend Cupcake early Sunday morning. A good massage the day before by Katie Cully from Performance Wellness ( set up a session with her if you need a massage!), some nice relaxing the rest of Saturday, a very good Caveman dinner consisting of raw London Broil, beets, rutabaga, avocado, a tasty raw salad Colleen put together, and some cooked cabbage, augmented with some decent sleep left me feeling about as prepared as I could be for the 28 mile race Sunday afternoon. It was cold when we arrived, but I knew that a little norther couldn’t overpower the Texas sun on such a nice spring day and it warmed up quickly as the sun climbed higher in the sky. A nice Caveman breakfast ( 4 raw eggs, 1 pear, some trail mix, and Colleen’s homemade energy bars) 3 hours before race start proved to be a good way to start the morning. I toed the line with 24 other racers in the Pro/Cat 1 category as the gun went off at 11am. We had a nice long stretch of pasture and ranch road to spread the field out. Some days you have it, and some days you don’t. This gorgeous Sunday aftenoon, I was closer on the “have” side of the scale than the “don’t have”. After the pace settled down a bit from the initial sprint, I still had quite a bit of octane left in the tank and saw a chance to go to the front of the pack, and so I did!! Outsprinting the fastest guys in the state is not something I’m accustomed to, but it felt good to have my few seconds of glory as we rolled by the expo center and team area. I felt the NOS start to fade after such an effort, so I fell back to midpack before we hit the singletrack. It was cool being in front, but in retrospect sitting in the pack would’ve probably yielded a better position heading into the singletrack. Once you hit the singletrack, there aren’t too many places to pass, so it is quite easy to get passed in the sprint by a rider who might not be the best rider in tight twisty wooded areas and get slowed up by them as the lead riders begin to build a lead. Such was the case here. No matter though, I was still recovering from the sprint. Lap 1 seemed to be about finding a rhythm and holding steady. Laps 2 and 3 were all about relentess attacks to bridge up and pass as many riders as I could. The 4th and final lap was about holding off the riders I passed on the last 2 laps. They were hungry to have that spot back, and I was starting to cramp on the climbs. I was riding extremely well through the twisty woods, the fastest and most efficiently I ever had. This is where I was able to open up the gap on passed riders and close it on riders ahead. On the long open straightaways, the 29er Raven tires I was running were just absolutely killing it. Then came the up/down roller coaster sections that criss-cross a bluff on the ranch a number of times. Right now climbing is my number one weakness, and this is where I was losing time to other riders. Almost all the climbs have a 180 degree turn at the top, and you can see how close riders are behind you. I was the rabbit this time, and I could see those dogs getting closer and closer. About a 1/2 mile before the Finish line, there is a straightaway that runs behind the campgrounds. One of the dogs finally caught me there and tried to take a bite on the inside left, but I wouldn’t have any of it. I beat him to the entrance into one last short section of singletrack and held steady, knowing 100% well that I could outsprint this pooch after the turn onto the ranch road and 100 yards to the end of a hard fought race and well deserved top 10 finish. A perusing of results indicated that I was only 2 1/2 minutes from the top 5. This finish was a huge moral victory for me, and another huge victory for the Caveman diet. I’m always reluctant to state that I am in as good as shape as I was before getting injured last February. It has been a long, hard march to get back to that level, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that I have not only surpassed that amount of fitness, but am healthier and wiser than I ever imagined I would be. Not only that, this is just the beginning. If I don’t ever think I can hang with those top 5 racers, then I probably never will. Deep inside, I know I can, and I know someday I will. With hard work and the right tools, you too can accomplish your goals. Don’t let setbacks get in the way of your goals. And remember, eat like a Caveman!
Here are some pics online from bobcat13:
http://bobcat13.smugmug.com/gallery/7726572_iTdcG#501812847_2brju
http://bobcat13.smugmug.com/gallery/7726572_iTdcG#501792180_23ESd
Other race notes:
- Thanks to Patty B for loaning me his shades. I left mine in Austin.
- Congrats to Cupcake for taking 3rd place in the Cat 3 women 30-39!
- I did not buzz my legs for this race. I think i was somehow faster because of this.
- The exta speed might also be attributed to the mustache I’m growing
- The new Salsa Moto Ace 17 DEGREE flat bar was freaking awesome. I like this bar even more than the Syntace 16 D bar. Review on tech corner coming soon.