yesterday’s ride

Although I never figured out what the name “Naked Crow” meant, the ride was pretty fun. And pretty small – about 80 riders. (I’ll try to steal some photos from the race website as soon as they're posted.)

We had some nice cloud cover early in the morning to keep the temps down. Hilary and I rode up to the start on cool quiet streets early Sunday morning. She was my race crew. She guarded my breakfast and read (H)arry Potter during the race.

This was the first year of this race. Apparently, the organizers have been trying to get the Forest Service to allow the race for seven years!

I guess this is about as slow a start as I’ve taken to get into the bike race world. I’ve been thinking about doing a race for about twelve years. I liked the experience of racing. It definitely pushed me to ride a little harder. I’ll ride this race again next year, but I doubt if I’ll do too much other racing. It’s hard to smell the roses when you’re pushing so hard.

The race was only about 8.5 miles long. Half of it was on the route I frequently ride to Brown Mountain. It was mostly dirt fire road with about a mile of paved road at the finish.

I was most impressed with the single-speed-no-suspension riders – one male and one female – both of them beat me to the finish by a few minutes.

I’m not sure exactly what place I finished in – somewhere around 24th (just like Hincapie in Le Tour.) I was hoping to finish in the top half, so I guess that works.

My bike quickly gained all of its weight back last night, so it’s ready for urban transport again. Can’t wait to get back up on the trail again soon.

Last Week:
Run: 28 = 12+9+7 (ytd: 642)
Bike: 62 = 13+6+3+6+26+8 (ytd: 1876)
Car: 0 = zero
Burrito: 2
Drink: 5 = 2+2+1