Greenbrier race and camp

I spent the last 3 days at Greenbrier for the race. I was there Friday helping mark the course, then took Oliver and his cousin Tiffany camping there Sat. night, and then raced the SS class yesterday afternoon. Was a fun weekend, but one crowded with other events I had to miss, like the big TravFest, a Buzzard Rocks/Veach Gap ride, and a family visit with an uncle I rarely see. I committed to the Greenbrier thing months ago, so I just stuck to the original plan.

The Greenbrier type course is hardly my forte, but it was cool seeing everyone again, and PVC does a great job putting on this race for such a small club. This year, with it being a UCI event for Olympic athletes, Jim was under enormous pressures and rules, and has been working on this event for a full year. He did a great job. An NBC news truck was out there, as well as reporters from the Hagerstown paper. Wonder how it will turn out for next year? And I wonder if fishermen will be allowed inside the ropes again for a UCI Elite race? How many World Cup mountain bike races can you think of where the pros are sharing a 2' wide lakeside trail with fishermen?


Here's Anne, mother of 2 little-uns, and co-owner of the Bike Lane, smiling in the middle of her Marathon race. Her 5-year-old boy had some tough comp. in the Kid's Race with that Levi kid, and those McClain boys.

My race was nice and uneventful, and slower than usual. I was a little hoarse, sunburned, and wore out from all the pre-race socializing (and climbing those parking lot hills). I rode a 32x22, 3 gears lower than the last 2 years, and it naturally made me slower. Not that I minded, I don't think I ever was at a spot where I thought "gee, I wish I had a harder gear right now..." I can't think of many 7-mile laps that can hurt as much as that course can. Even the rocky singletrack downhills, which usually are more my forte, were hard, and I often couldn't wait to get back climbing again. Yea, seriously. Somehow I think Michaux-50 is going to hurt less than that. Yeah, right, something's wrong with me.