Race Day

There is a dull light in the sky this morning and heavy wind gusts, but the only meterological factor that interests me right now is precip. Specifically that there is none. I'll tell you why.

Yesterday the clan that I've taken up with here, all friends from ABQ, and I rode our bikes the 5-6 miles to the race venue to pre-ride the course during the 1-hour opening at noon. We took off out of the parking with 3 dudes from Oklahoma and instantly 2 of them went down on black ice. A few miles later John got his front wheel stuck in a groove in the shoulder of the highway we were riding on and went down pretty hard too. That was three, whew, so the rest of us were now safe.

We hopped up onto the course under perfect skies with not a cloud or hint of moisture in the air, but the course was a harsh New Jersey deja vu: big green field with a track of thick mud: the mud was the course. And the course video that I posted on the site a few days ago doesn't do it justice because you couldn't see its topography: the first half of each lap winds up several hundred feet to the top of a hill and then last half winds back down to the finish, and with all that "oily" mud you could hardly negotiate all the switchback and corners on the bike.... NOOOOOOO! Yeah, I was bummed and instantly wrote off my chances at a win, this was a runners course.

Two hours later the sun and wind had dried out the course and the hundreds of racers out there packed down the mud to a smooth grippy track: sweet, I'm back in! It was amazing how fast an almost unridable course dried out and how equally as fast my fragile race emotions changed. I spent the day at the course yesterday reveling in the National race scene and watching dozens of junior and masters racers crowned. For now I can only hope.

Today's the day, and as long as there is no rain I am going with the overly optimistic idea that I am the man to beat on this day. This really is a good course for me, but I'm not the only one.

Annie says there has been an outpouring of support from friends and family, and I want to say thanks! I appreciate the support which really amounts to a justification that following my dreams is worthy, and win or lose its been a great dream to chase.

Its race time! Actually, breakfast time. Then stretch time, get to the course time, warm-up time, THEN race time.