Race # 1, the Mountain Bike Race.

Oh where to start.  The MTN bike race was Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.  Issues started about 4:30 am Sunday morning as I found my-self hugging the great porcelain bowl.  Suspect bad sea food.  Was not able to go back to sleep after.  I did manage to get things quite stable by race start time though, thank god.

The temperature this particular after-noon was 36 - 38 celsius, this sets a new record for me.  It was hot! The start of the race was delayed by a half hour which sent me to the nearest water fountain I could find.   I filled a water bottle dumped it on my head until I was soaked head to toe.  I tell ya even the water in the out door urinals were starting to look like a good cooling source!  :s  The race was almost halved due to the heat as no feed zone was included.

The course was 3 km of paved road to a small park where we raced around a 2 km circuit 8 times, then proceeded 3 km back to the start line.  The circuit consisted of 40% pavement, 30% gravel and 30% of actual dirt.  This was a Cyclocross race course.  I soon realized I was going against the odds as everyone had carbon fibre hard tails that were at least 5 - 7 lbs lighter than my aluminum full suspension.  The Italian MTB National Champion from a few years back's bike was particularly nice, got a good look at it as we lined up beside each other on the start line.  (ask me about him upon my return as I have another story about he and I).  The 2 km circuit in the park was on the side of a steep mountain, we were going either up or down.  Luckily there was quite a bit of shade.

Recap...little sleep, unsettled stomach, very hot (no feed zone), technical bike on a smooth race course.  Oh yeah baby, shaky knee syndrome found me once again.  I had a good start on the pavement and got on the course in a good position.  I had my only mechanical on the first lap, chain fell off and got jammed between the little ring and the frame.  I passed a hand full of people in the first 2 laps but shortly after that the climbing in the heat really got to me.  I started getting passed as I slowed down to nearly a crawl.  I managed to finish all 8 laps (later found out quite a few dropped out or crashed) and hit the roads back to the finish.  Four Italian's we're working together and managed to catch me with about 600 meters to go.  I sat in and sucked wheels till the 100 meter mark and sprinted passed all but one.  Here is the really crazy part, after all that I still managed to place 6th.  Not sure how it happened but I was pleasantly surprised.

Moral of my story is NEVER quit.  The greater the odds of you losing a challenge, is all the more reason to accept the challenge.  That's how you learn and progress.