NIRA Nats and CRASH

Well unfortunately I don't have any good news from this past weekend. During my very first race and on the 4th lap I slid out and fell while in 5th place. When I hit the floor I landed on my right shoulder and separated the AC joint! POW, popped it right out and tore all of the ligaments too. Going in for reconstructive surgery on Wednesday September 16 at 8:40am. This basically puts me out for the rest of this year. Hoping for a full recovery and a better season next year. Thanks to all of friends for the support and care. I will be back!!!

2009 Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K Run

It has become a tradition between my brother and I and a few other friends to challenge ourselves to run in the Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K. It is always the last Saturday of August and it starts at midnight (hence the name). This will be my 3rd time racing it out of the last 4 years (I was out of town last year). It always seems to become a rivalry between me and Kent to see if I can actually beat him in a 5K.

This year he has been boasting that he has been training in the 21-22 minute range. I always kid him in that it doesn't matter because I am going to just draft off of him until the final sprint to the finish. I almost had him in the Celebrity Classic back in April, but he caught me right at the finish line. So Saturday night was to be my redemption (yeah right).

Of course my training schedule contains absolutely no running in it. Running just plain out hurts! And I don't like pain, so I just don't run until it is race time. Whether or not this is a good strategy, I don't really know. My legs are pretty sore right now and I figure that it is only temporary, so that is ok. I am in pretty good shape from all of the other training and events that I do. However, I should probably throw in a little running here and there just for fun. My only real strategy for preparing for the race is to stretch. And I stretch every day on the hour from sun up to sun down. I have my Blackberry programmed to go off every hour to remind me. So far it has worked and I haven't had a cramp in a long time.

So anyway, I somehow coerce my good friend Rob to join us this year. He is the fastest in our group, but of course he has to start the smack/trash talk early. It all starts on the Friday before the race and doesn't end until the start of the race. It is all in good humor because I know that his 20 some-odd minute 5K is going to blister me anyway. But of course I have to smack talk right back at him, but about triathlons instead of 5K's. I'm coming to get ya at Tugaloo baby!!!

So anyway, it is game day and I am stoked. I am so hyped up about the run I decide that I need to go burn off some steam and decide to go swim. I head over to the YMCA around noon and do a short 1.2 mile cruise. I don't usually go there on Saturday, but there are several people there that I know and some are running the race too. So my swim takes me around 44 minutes and I head back home.

When I get home, I am starving but I want to weigh myself before I eat. I always like to get my weight down to a certain level before a race. Lighter weight usually equals faster speed. I weigh-in at exactly 185 pounds. Perfect! So now I can finally eat my first pre-race meal. Hmmmm...what shall it be? I need carbs, but not a lot for such a short race. I decide to eat a large bowl of plain corn flakes with a banana and some raisins. This should last me until Rob gets here because I know that he always wants to out to eat somewhere when he is in town.

A favorite pre-race meal for me is grilled fish with rice and some steamed veggies like broccoli and carrots. Light and fluffy but loaded with the good stuff. I have tried to do the pasta like Rob and Kent in the past but it just sat on my stomach like a lead block. Not be ventured there again. Burp...

So I pretty much goofed-off the rest of the day until Rob is supposed to be here around 7pm. So when he finally does call I am starving again. I am just about to fire up the grill when he calls me to meet him and Anna (his daughter) over at Cheddars. I jump in the car and head right over there. We always know what we want and order it right when the waitress comes to get our drink order. Blackened Salmon over rice, broccoli and carrots with sweat tea for me. I don't like to eat too much before a race but I am starving and order the dinner portion instead of the lunch portion. After eating about half of it I start to wonder if I had made a mistake. I still have 4 hours until the race so I should be fine? I can only hope.

We decide to go over to Barnes & Noble after we eat to burn off some more time and calories. Of course we both get the same triathlon magazines to look at. Before I know it, it is 9:30 and I decide that I need to head home to get ready and Rob needs to take Anna home. I want to get there around 10:00 to get checked in and to socialize with all of my other friends that will be there. So I head home, jump in the shower, get dressed, pack up my gel packs and Gatorade and head over to the race.

When I get there it is already packed with hundreds of people. This is the largest race in Columbus and it is growing every year. They are predicting over 2000 this year. The festivities started earlier in the day and go on until after the race is over. Check out the web site to see what all there is to do and see. Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K.

So as soon as I get there I start to see many of my friends. Mac and his wife, Matt and Ivy, Nicki, Keith and Charlene, Shelia, Brian, Richard, Terry and Valeni and their son Kydon, Michael, Ricky, Brad, Jimbo, David and Chris, and the list goes on and on. And last but not least Rob and Kent finally decide to show up.
Better late than never. My friend Butch is on his way also but I never see him.

So it is time to start lining up for the start of the race. We always try to get as close to the front as possible to try to get a good start without having to wait to get to the actual start line. We are about 3 rows back form the line. I crank up my IPOD with some AC/DC and wait for the cannon to go off. 3-2-1 BOOM, and we are off to the races.

I am right behind Rob for the first 100 yards or so, but I can't find Kent. He had moved over to the left side of the starting line before the start of the race to try to sike me out, I guess. So I am trying to maintain a good pace by staying with Rob for as long as I can. He starts to pull away from me quick, about the 1/2 mile mark. I am still looking for Kent, hoping that he didn't get a good jump on me. Well about mile 1 here he comes up behind me. His first comment is that he thinks that he needs to stop and take a break. Well I know that it is ploy to get into my head thinking that he is struggling. I give him some encouragement to keep on going. It's all about finishing now!!! So we stay together for about another 1/2 mile or so and then he start pulling away from me too. Shoot!!!

I have to keep him in my sites if I am going to have a chance of getting him. I try to pick it up a notch, but my heart rate monitor (HRM) is going off at about 186 beats per minute by now. Down the hill and under the bypass still cruising. A guy runs up next to me hearing my HRM going crazy and thinks that it is a pace setter and asks me what my pace is. I laughingly tell him that it is HRM monitor freaking out and that I am trying to stay on a 7:30 pace. Not knowing what I really am running at this time. It is too dark in this section of the race to see my HRM.

About this time Kim passes me and a guy from the pool passes me. Now I am starting to get a little mad at myself for not being able to pick it up, but I have to let them go. I can only push so hard in a race and this is about all I have. It is really amazing what you actually think about during a race. I wish someone would invent a device that could record your thoughts so you could replay them later. I am now thinking that I have about 1 more mile left.

I can still see Kent, but he is still slowly pulling away from me. As we turn back onto Sue Mack Dr I loose all site of Kent and the tall guy from the pool. I am now in la la land and only thinking about finishing the race. The crowds that line the street are great and offer tons of encouragement. I give several of them high fives which always is a great pick-me-up! So my next goal to see what I have left for last half mile. As I turn the last corner heading towards the home stretch, I can finally see my HRM again and change it to the race timer. It says 22 minutes. So I know that I am not on a personal record pace now but still want to finish below 24 minutes. As I am running back on Auburn Ave now I finally see Butch and he cheers me on to the finish line.

There are thousands to people cheering you to the finish line. I actually here my name yelled out but have no idea who it was as I am focused on the line. I finally see the official race clock and see that is 23:30 so I put the hammer down. I sprint the last 100 yards or so and finish the race in 23:58. My HRM is still going off and continues for at least another minute until I remember to turn it off. My average HR was 183.

My official placement was 12 out of 62 in my age group. 232 out of 1892 that finished the race. The 23:58 ties me for my 3rd best 5K time. Kent ran a 23:34 and Rob ran a 20:25. Congrats to all of the finishers. Special congrats to Valeni Witbeck for taking home 1st place in her age group and in her first race!!! You go girl.



Check out all of the Results.

Georgia Veterans Triathlon

It has been a while since I have had an entry in here because this is the first race that I have done in a while. I hurt or shall I say busted my left shin bone very bad about 2 months ago. I had to wait a long time for it to get well enough for me to even start back training. I missed the Callaway Sprint tri and the Inline Speed Skating National Championships during this time. I have been training hard since then and was ready to do something soon.

I had not planned on doing this triathlon this year because of my experience in last years race. It had to be the worst race I have ever had. Everything sucked from the swim to the run. I couldn't breathe, my transitions sucked and my calves cramped in the run! Not to mention that the knats down in Cordele were just as bad! I told myself that I would never come back.

Well I started thinking about this race about a week before it was to happen and kind of talking it up to my friends and to myself. This kind of got me excited about doing it again and with the thought that I might able to redeem myself from last year's disaster. So at the last minute I decided to go. There was going to several of my friends competing in it too.

So Friday I was off of work, I loaded the car up early and took off for Cordele around 3:00pm. I wanted to get there before registration closed around 6:00pm. Plus I was going to camp and needed to get all of my gear set up before it got dark. I couldn't find anyone to go with me so I drove down by myself. It only took about 1:45minutes.

So I get there around 5:00pm and head over to registration and sign up. I am assigned race bib number 326. I am glad I got there when I did because about 20 people came in right after me and had to wait for a while. So I now head over to the camp ground and set up my tent. Then I head into town to try to find something to eat and to waist some time. Well it is now time to hit the sack, around 10:00pm, so I can fully rested for the race.

I get up around 5:45am and head for the showers. I didn't sleep as good as I was hoping to, but I got enough I think. Transition area opens at 6:00am so I want to get my stuff over there with plenty of time to spare, just in case something goes wrong. And of course something does! I forgot my swimming goggles. But I have plenty of time and walk back over to the camp site and get them.

I see several of my Columbus friends in the transition area while they are all setting up for the race. Ramon Scott, Larry Young, Wesley & Lynn Williamson, and several others. A total of 16 people from the Columbus area ran the race. Well it is now about 20 minutes til the start, so I grab a gel pack and suck it down. I start heading over the start line by the lake. I jump in the water to get a quick swim in and to get used to the temp. It is pretty nice.

I have decided to try a different strategy this time in the swim. Instead of starting on the inside of the pack, I am going to start of the left, outside of the pack. Maybe this way I will avoid getting run over by the faster swimmers and it will give me chance to get into my groove. I have been training hard in the swim and am really hoping for a good result. Last year I had to dog paddle about half of the swim! LOL

So the gun sounds and we are off. My plan works great and I am headed to the first buoy without too many people in the way. It does get a little crowded by the buoy, but that is expected. Rounding the second buoy, the sun is right in my eyes and I can't see anything! So I just keep heading straight into the sun until I can pick out the buoy and the exit sign. I finish the swim in about 9:30 according to my watch and head up to the transition area through the grass. My official time is 10:24 because the chip timer is not at the swim exit but at the entrance to the transition area. I hit the transition area running. I wipe off my feet, throw on my cycling shoes and I am off. Transition time is 1:08. Tied for the fastest transition time.

I am really hoping to have an astounding bike split because I suffered last year. I am pushing as hard as I can. The course is pretty technical at the beginning with a lot of turns. It then opens up and I put the hammer down. I didn't know it but I was leading everyone in my age group by this time. I came out of water 5th, and then passed everyone on the bike. I finished the 13.6 mile bike in 36:13 for an average of 22.5 miles per hour and a first place position so far! YAY But of course I didn't know it at the time.

I head back into the transition area with my feet already out of the shoes and jump off of the bike in full stride. All I have to do is put on my running shoes and I am off into the 5K run. My transition time is :36 and this time I am tied for the 2nd fastest transition time.

With my shoes on and still feeling pretty good, I head off to see what I can do. The run is the hardest portion of the event for me. I don't run very fast as compared to the good triathlon guys. So I am only trying to best my time from last year. The entire run I have to keep telling myself to keep up the pace and don't walk! The temptation is there with every step. Once I get into my groove I am OK and feeling better about it. No cramps is a great thing too!

So I am running along at my pace and not knowing what position I am in, and a guy in my age group passes me. I am only about a third of the way into the run so I don't even think too much about it. Well a little past the halfway point another guy in my age group passes me. Well there is no way that I can keep up with these guys because there is just too much distance to go yet. So again I am not worried about it. So I start my kick with about 300-400 yards to go in the race. I am flying now and I cross the line in 1:14:41. Amazingly 6:04 better than I did last year!!! I am really stoked about this to say the least.

So the race is over and I am now looking for some of my friends and something to drink and eat. I find Ramon and Wesley over by the food and get me something to eat. After I eat I gather my things up and take it back over the camp ground. I grab my protein shake and head back over to the finish line to see who else has come in. I am also waiting for the race director to post the results. He eventually comes on the microphone and says that they can't get the printer to work, so they are just going to start handing out the awards. So I decide that I am going to go back to the camp site and get ready to go home.

Well I am talking to Ramon and he convinces me to stick around and see who gets an award. He thinks that he might be in the running for one, so I stay. Wesley ends up getting 3rd in the Master Men division and Lynn gets 3rd in her age group. Ramon ends up 4th in his. Then all of a sudden they call out my name for 3rd place in my age group!!! Check that out! WOW. I would have never thought that I would ever place in a tri. I am so stoked now I can't hardly stand by myself. 3RD PLACE...



Check out the RESULTS

2009 Fort Benning Reverse Sprint Triathlon

The reverse sprint is exactly what it says. You run first, the bike, and then swim last. It, for some people seems a lot harder than a regular triathlon, but for me, it actually works out to my advantage. You see, my worst event out of the 3 is the run. So if I can run at the beginning of the race while I am fresh, my time will be alot faster.

Last year my splits were as follows: 5K run - 24:36, T1 - 1:20, 20K Bike - 36:36 (20.2 mph), T2 - 1:45, 550 meter swim - 16:45, Total time - 1:21:00. Placed 6th out of 12 in my age group and 48th out of 116 overall. So of course my goal was to beat my times from last year and hopefully place higher than last year too.

The weather was very nice and sort of cool that morning of the race. This is always nice because the temps and humidity can be brutal this time of year. It had rained the day before, so I thought the humidity would be a factor, but it wasn't.

I got up around 6:20am and loaded the car and headed to Fort Benning at about 6:45. All visitors have to go to the check point off of I-185 and get a one day pass into the base. So I have to do this and get there and get set-up before 7:45. The race is to start at 8:01 sharp. I get there with plenty of time so I start to look around to see if I recognize anyone.

I see Terry Miller, Brian Abeyta, Joanne Cain, Gabe Denes, Jose Solis (both), Brad Spenney, and Wesley Williamson. Brian, Brad and Wesley are in my age group and usually beat me. Gabe and Jose are on teams and only doing the cycling part of the race.

So now I am all set-up, signed-up and ready for the race. The pre-race speech and rules description and announcements are given as well as the National Anthem is played. And of course this race will have a lot of military people participating in it and they are usually very fast.

Ok, they tell us to head over to the start line and the count down begins. We are off! I start on the second row this time so I won't get run over by the fast guys. I set into my pace (whatever that is) and think about being consistent. About a mile into the race my left side begins to hurt a little, but I try to not let it bother me. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I can live with it. I am now wondering if I ate too much that morning. Oh well, maybe it will come in handy for later on in the race. I even took an extra Potassium pill to help ward off the cramps.

About mile 2 my heart rate monitor starts to beep as we start going up a very slight hill. I look and it is reading 183 which is not too bad so I keep on my pace. While running I always try to keep my eyes on a competitor in front of me to sort of give me something to follow and try to chase down. So I have no found this person and I am going to try catch them before the end. I do catch him on the home stretch, but I think that he now has the same thought as me and so the race is on. I cross the finish line into the transition area in 23:58. My third fastest 5K time! YAY

So now I have to find my bike, throw on the sun helmet, change the shoes and head out the gate. I do this without any troubles and am out in 1:13.

The bike being my best part of the tri I race out of the transition parking lot and immediately start passing people. It is the funniest thing, but there are 2 guys on a tandem bike racing!!! I have never seen that before. I now see Terry Miller and he is having trouble getting his feet into his bike shoes. So I blow by him and never see him again.

The first half of the bike section starts out with a slight downhill. I hit around 27-28 mph and hoping to maintain a 22 mph pace as long as I can. I turn left onto Sunshine, which is very flat and start to crank it hard. I look up and there is Terry Witbeck. He is not in the race so I pull up next to him and we start to chat. I can't talk much while riding as it takes my precious oxygen away! LOL I end up dropping Terry when we get to the hills past the steel bridge. By now I am still averaging 22 mph, but it is starting to go down. I can handle the hills, but it does take the speed away.

So I hit the turn around and head back to the transition area. Terry turns around ahead of me and we again ride together for a short while. I drop him again as we climb the next hill and never see him again until I get into the pool. The last part of the bike is going back up the long hill by the airport that I came down so fast earlier. My speed has now slowed down to 21 mph. By the time I get back it has decreased to 20.7 mph. Still faster than last year though.

As I am coming down the last stretch to the transition area, I decide to take my feet out of my shoes so that I can get a quick dismount and transition time. As I pull my right leg up and reach down to release the Velcro, my calf cramps! Shit, I knew this was going to happen, just not right here. So I push my heel down to stop the cramp and am about to get the shoe off. I do the same thing with the left shoe and my left calf cramps too! WOW, this can become a very serious problem real quick as I had the same problem in the swim last year.

So I hit the transition area running right off of the bike. I hang up my bike on the rack and throw off my helmet and sunglasses. Take off my shoes and socks and grab my swim goggles and run out to the pool. My transition time is 1:38. It is about a 100 yard run over to the pool, so I decide to take it a little easy so that I might be able to catch my breath some.

I get to the pool and there are 3 guys in front of me waiting to get in the water. It is a single file entry one at a time. My legs are feeling ok now and I hope that they don't cramp as soon as I start to swim. So I hit the water and take off. I can feel them trying to cramp so I decide to not kick and just drag my legs for while. This seems to work and soon I am able to begin my kicking.

I am going at a pretty good pace and I am trying to keep my focus on my breathing. I swim about 4 laps before I decide that I need to slow down and take a little breather. So I stop swimming and start walking in the water for just a few feet. I have to do this about 4 times before the swim is over. My time was 13:46! 3 minutes faster than last year!!! A BIG YAY...

My official finish time was 1:16:26. 4:34 faster than last year. I finished 10th out of 22 in my age group and 53rd out of 171 overall. I though that this was a very good race for me and I really enjoyed it, especially besting my time from last by so much.

Ga. State Mountain Bike Race #3 - Winder, Ga.

Well it doesn't seem as though I get much sleep as it is pretty warm inside the tent all night, but I do get to sleep in. I finally get up around 8:00am head to the showers. I plan on eating on the way over to the mountain bike races. I am not in a rush, so I just take my time. After my shower I take down the tent and put everything up for the trip. I leave camp around 9:00am.

Fort Yargo State Park is the venue for the mountain bike race. I have never been or raced here before yesterday. The course is very hilly and technical with a long winding hill towards the end of the course.

I get to the park in time to see Nikki and wish her good luck. She is racing in the pro women category which does 3 laps around the course or 30 miles! I can barely complete 1 lap or 10 miles. I guess you just have to pace yourself and have plenty of food and drinks available. I talked to Jose Mendez recently and he says that he has a small cooler set-up at the start finish line with his food and drinks in it. When he goes by, he stops long enough to slam a sandwich and a cold beverage and hits the trail again.

So now I have to wait about 2 hours before we can start the race. They won't start us until all of the pro's have started their last lap. For some reason the race is running a little behind so we have to sit around a wait longer than expected.



Well the time is here and we are ready to start. 3, 2, 1 and we are off! I start on the front row like always trying to get into a good position early. Well for some reason I can't get my left foot into the pedal and am getting passed by everyone. By the time I get going, I am almost in last place. So I now have to kick it in passing gear early on and get back to where I belong.

The first part of the course is relatively flat some rolling hills, but pretty technical. The field has spread out a good bit, so I follow a small group that is ahead of me. I don't get a chance to pass until we get to the first big hill. Since I am pretty string on the hills, I take full advantage of this. I pass several guys on the way up and even a couple on the way back down the other side.

We are now coming to another flat but open area towards the back side of the lake. The guy in front of me has asked me if I wanted to pass and he would pull aside, so I tell him that I am going to go for it now. I see a group of guys ahead and hope to catch them before they go back into the woods. I put the hammer down and am able to catch them and pass about 6 guys in the process! YAY

I hit the woods full steam ahead, but it quickly starts climbing up another incline. Small but long and winding. I feel my heart rate climbing too and soon my heart rate monitor starts beeping meaning that my heart rate is over 180 beats per minute. I slow down a little to try to get it under control, but can't slow down too much. This section of the course is heavily wooded and has several power line crossings.

As we head deeper into the woods the course has some pretty deep revenes. They are pretty close to each other and about 8 feet deep. You really have to be very careful as you can get thrown off of your bike. These a very steep too. You could fly over the handle bars too if you lean to far forward. I hit them almost prefect every time and come out unscathed.



Coming out of this area is another long winding hill to climb. I actually am really close to the guy in front of me and my front tire bumps his back tire. No one is hurt and I don't even think that he felt it. I do eventually pass this guy and continue on to the next area.

I soon catch up to another guy and notice that he riding a single speed bike. I make a comment to him about it and he quickly announces that his bike is also a hard tail and hard nose! Meaning no shocks at all!!! I am quite amazed and tell him that he is crazy. He just shouts back that he loves it and starts to pull away from me! WOW I better keep my mouth shut next time. LOL

We now come to a road crossing. There are several volunteers there to control the traffic. We fly down a small hill dropping down to the road catching a little air for the audience and quickly heading off into the woods again. This section is pretty flat and not so technical. I am still with the single speed guy and we are flying through the trees.

This section comes out at the bottom of the hill and we have to cross a wooden bridge over a creek that feeds the lake. On the other side of the creek is the first of the big hills! It is pretty steep and several switch-backs. We have caught a couple of other riders and have to pass them going up the hill. It is pretty touch, but we make it up with no issues. We are out of the woods now and it is really bright and hot. The top of the hill comes out right next to the main entrance of the park and follows the main road for about a mile or so it seems.

We come to a small section that I call the rock garden. It is probably the area that actually has a large gathering of exposed rocks. These can be very technical to cross as some of them are pretty large. Don't want to fall around them! This section comes out and parallels the road again. We soon go over another bridge and have a 90 degree left turn heading back towards the main part of the lake and the BIG hills.

We are now back into the woods and are taking a long flat and pretty straight trail. But I know that the hills are rapidly approaching. This trail leads right to the bottom of THE hill. This is the hill that I had to get off of the bike and walk it up yesterday. The single speed bike guy is still right in front of me but I think that I can pass him on the hill. As I suspected, we get all of the towards the top and he has to get off of the bike because he doesn't have any gears!!! I quickly go around and take off again.

This section quickly ends and I cross the main road and head into what is the last section of the race. This section is pretty flat but very technical. Only one more small hill towards the end and I am home free. I can't remember if I pass anyone in this section or not as my mind is pretty blurred by now. The start/finish line is right by the main camp ground parking lot and pavilion. There is probably 100 people gathered around watching the finish line. I come flying out of the woods and here all of the cheers. Are they yelling for me? I don't know, but it does bring a smile to my face.

I finish the race in 59:27 with an 8th place out of 20. Not too shabby if I say so myself. The race was pretty grueling and I have an average heart rate of 164.

Official raceResults

Another weekend of back-to-back races - cycling

Well about 2 years ago I was fortunate enough to go watch the Athen's Twilight Crit road bike races in Athen's, Ga. I was so impressed with the racing and how fast they went that I said that I would like to try it one day. Well that one day came last Saturday. I have been training for the past 2 years and I felt that my time had come. Although I didn't really feel as though I had a chance of placing, I was up for the challenge, or so I though.

I also noticed that there was a mountain bike race the same weekend, but on Sunday, in Winder, Ga. at Fort Yargo State Park. This is only about 30 miles from Athens, so I might as well give it try while I am up there. I have the bike and the experience (1 race).

So I planned out my schedule as it would be a long weekend. I would leave right after work on Friday. I would be camping so I needed to go there first so I could get my tent set up before it got too late (no noise after 10pm). Butch was supposed to go with me but backed out at the last minute. So I am once again going alone!

Well I am now in Athen's Friday night after setting up my camp site. This is a real party town and everyone is out and about in downtown. There are vendors set-up and the pro's are having a stationary bike race to set the starting positions for their race on Saturday night. Everything related to the race is starting to close up for the night, and I am tired so I head back to the camp ground to get some sleep. My race is at 9:30am.

I have signed up for the Cat 5 race but it looks as though they are combining the Cat 4 and 5 together. I don't understand this as I am not a Cat 4 cyclist, but all I can do is hope that we still race in our own Cat. Well I guess I am wrong as I find out early Saturday morning at Jittery Joes when I pick up my race pack and bib number. Cat 4-5 combined and top 10 go to the finals. The finals are to be at 5:45 on the crit course downtown. We are racing this morning off site around the Greenway Loop. It is a 1.3 mile loop around a stretch of the Oconee River just north of the downtown area. It is mostly flat with one slight up hill and downhill.

So I set up my trainer and ride it for about 15 minutes to get the legs warmed up before I have to go to the start line. There are several other guys and girls doing the same thing in the parking lot. So I am now warmed up and getting ready for the race. I have about 15 minutes before the start time so I head up to the start line.

There are other races going on before us, so we have to wait around until they are finished before we can start. While I am waiting, I see Jose Solis and his son and say hello and wish them luck on their races. Jose Sr. races in the 40+ Masters age group and Jose Jr. races in the Cat 4-5 Under 35 age group.

So we are now set to go at the starting line. The count down starts and we are off. I am staged about 3/4 towards the front of the pack. I have trouble getting my left shoe locked into the pedal and loose alot of positions. I am now heading down the first hill and we hit the first turn at about 30 miles per hour. The second corner comes up real fast and a guy cuts me off and I have to hit the brakes real hard. My back tire locks up and skids out a little before I let off and regain control. By this time I am getting passed by everyone! I try to look for a break so that I can get back into the pack, but there is none. I go straight to the back! This sucks and was my worst nightmare. I struggle to keep up and am dropped on the back straight away.

So now I am all alone and sucking wind fast. Although my first lap was a whopping 27 miles per hour, I am now struggling to maintain 22. This race is a 30 minute race plus 3 laps, and I am only on lap number 2. Oh well, that is the breaks. I am not going to quit, so I keep telling myself to keep going and do the best that I can. I am actually not in last place either. So I keep pushing along and even get some cheers from the crowd watching. This is quite inspiring. I even start talking to a couple of cute girls on the back stretch as I go by every lap.

Well the agony is short lived and the race is now officially over. I finished 28th out of 30 riders. Time was 43.5 minutes. Averaged 21.5 miles per hour with a heart rate of 172. I go back to see the girls that cheered me and give the a well deserved thank you and hi-five. I head back to the truck a little disappointed but glad that I gave it try.

I am now on my way over to Fort Yargo State Park to go check out the mountain bike course. It is only a 30 minute drive and it will give me a little time to rest the legs for a short while. I want to ride to course to see what it is all about. There is an Exterra (off road triathlon) race there this morning and was hoping to see some of it.

So I get here a little too late and they are giving out the awards for the Exterra race. I look around to see if there is anyone that I might know, but I don't see anyone. I might like to give this race a try next year too. There isn't many people here, so I watch the awards and go get my bike out to hit the trails. I have to get back to Athens by 5:45 to watch the start of the finals. I plan on taking it slow around the course, so it will probably take me over an hour to do it all.

The course is 10.8 miles and is pretty hilly. It goes all of the way around the lake. Towards the end of the course is a series of large hills. My legs are starting to cramp on me so I have to get off of the bike and walk it up them. I really hope that I don't have this problem tomorrow!

So after my ride I decide that I am going to do the race and sign up. I now have to take a shower and head back to the camp ground. So I grab a bite to eat and talk to a couple of people there. Head to the showers and head back to the camp ground.

I have a little time before the finals start so I decide that I am going to take a nap. I try to lay down in the tent but it is just too hot in there. So I set up one of my chairs and sit outside in the breeze for a while, but don't get that nap that I wanted. I decide to make a few phone calls and let everyone know what is going on.

It is now 5:30 and I head back over to Athens to watch the finals. There is all kind of races and festivities going on all day. Kids races, a 1 mile sprint for $1000 cash, a chariot race, recumbent bike race, etc...

So after all of that is over, I finally get to see the Cat 4 finals. Jose made it so I am looking for him. I never find him or his son so I have no idea how he did. I did see a couple other guys from the Columbus Bike racing team and said hey to them. I don't think that they knew who I was either! LOL

So I hang around waiting for the big finally race, the pro men. It isn't supposed to start until 8:45, but actually starts around 9:30pm. I watch it for several laps, but have to leave before the finish as I am just too tired to stay up late. I have to be over at the mountain bike race by 11am, plus I have to take down my tent and pack everything up.

So I head back to camp and hit the sack. After I get my McDonald's ice cream cone that is! Yummy...

View the Athen's Twilight Crit Results

The Noob