27 August 2011
Finally a free weekend to get a local Nebraska race in! It's really been a long time since I've been in reasonably decent shape at the starting line of a Psycowpath event. The races I did in 2009 definitely don't meet that criteria. My choices for which class to race in were Cat II open or Cat II 35+, after checking previous race times, I decided to go with the slower group, which was the 35+ and that should give me the best shot at finishing higher up. I really didn't expect to do all that well because historically I never have at races in NE. Compared to my days of racing in Illinois, Nebraska riders are just faster. Really, though, today's race was just going to be a good benchmark to see where my fitness is at and give me an idea of how far I've come and how far I've yet to go before next year.
Overall, I felt good about my conditioning and I feel I'm actually pretty close the level I was at nearly 6 years ago when I stopped racing, not quite, but close. At the start I felt like I could attack and sprint for a decent spot in the line-up into the trails. I ended up going into the trails around 4th. By age group, I was in even better position. There was actually a pretty low turnout for this race, so open and 35+ started together. It's been a long time since I've been in a regular XC race. It was like coming home, it felt great, and I was reminded of why I love racing mtb the most. Although it's a race against other riders, that part fades away once the race is underway, it's really just me against myself, an all out TT battle to get to the finish line as fast as possible. During the race I was also reminded of how little actual single track riding I have done this summer, I was over shooting corners all over the place and constantly taking bad lines and losing my momentum. After the first lap, I got better, but still I need to do more XC training throughout the summer (on real single track).
The race was only 3 laps and I finished with a time around 1:20:00, which was good enough for 3rd place in 35+ and 4th place overall Cat II. Which is way better than I thought I would do. Due the low turnout of racers, not all of the fast guys were there, so maybe I wouldn't have got a medal at many of the other events, but overall I was very happy with my performance, feel I'm on track heading into CX season and the winter.
Getting a medal in a Psycowpath race is really a great landmark to my many comeback attempts (2006 failed, 2009 mildly successful). I did not expect to get one of these this year, so now having one really makes this year's comeback attempt really feel successful and like I'm really makings some progress! While I still won't state that my comeback is complete, at least I'm on track and getting staged as a force to be reckoned with!
3rd place on the podium (Weiland brother's weren't there)
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