Chasing the Cure MTB Race

Saturday March 6 was my unofficial first day of racing for 2010. Paul Hein of the Columbus Cycle Club and Columbus Bike Racing did a great job of rallying the troops and organizing the First Annual Chasing the CURE for Childhood Cancer mountain bike race. It was held at Flat Rock Park in Columbus, Ga. It included races for all ages and all abilities. Racing started around 9:00am with the kids/beginners and ended with the Men/Women 18-39 Sport category.

The weather was a little chilly early in the morning, but it warmed up and the conditions were perfect at race time. There were about 50 racers that participated as well as several spectators. At last count there was close to $3000 raised for the CURE. I think that it was unanimous amongst the troops that Paul make this into an annual event.

My event was the Sport Men 40+. Having been the only one in that category, Paul combined me with the 40+ Beginners. I think that there were about 7 of us all together. It was to be a 30 minute plus 1 lap race.

I was a little nervous at the start line, but as soon as the gun went off I went into race mode with no problem. .I had no idea who my competition was but I knew that I wanted to be near the front, but not in the lead. At least I didn't want to be in the lead at the very start of the race. I have a problem with pacing myself and tend to want to go all out, right from the start.

So when the gun went off, I took it slow and let someone take the lead. I was in second place and hoped to stay there as long as I could. The first and second laps went quite well, but at a fairly slow pace for me. Both times as we came around to the finish line banner, the lead guy up-shifted and missed a gear.
We almost ran over him when he slowed down that fast. So after this happened at the end of the 2nd lap, I decided it was time to get around this guy before something bad happened.

So I quickly down shifted and jumped on the gas and passed him. I guess a couple of other guys had the same idea and we pulled away form him fast. I was now in full sprint mode and took off. I am now is first place and loving it! I was told by my skating coach that you never look back to see where your competition is, so I didn't. I just kept focusing on the job at hand, winning and not making any mistakes.


The race quickly became a personal challenge to me. I wanted to see how hard I could push myself and still maintain position and stay in control. I soon realized that I was about to start lapping the field. Not my plan nor intention, but true non-the-less. I ended up lapping all but 2 guys and won 1st place.

At the end of the race I officially completed 11 laps in 34:26. An average of 3.11 minutes per lap. I was told it was a .7 mile course, so that puts my speed around 11.14 miles per hour. Not too bad, but it was a relatively flat course.

I really enjoyed the race, the swag, the competitors, and the opportunity to be able to support a very worthy cause. Hats off to Paul again for an outstanding job. And I would also give a shout out to the wonderful volunteers that help make it all come together too.



Here is the link to all of the race photos.