Monday, April 30, 2007

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.

2 comments:

Joe Bagadonuts said...

Nice job Larry! Looks like you had a pretty good day on the course. Awesome lap times! We tried to stay around as long as we could in the afternoon to catch some of the afternoon races, but we were all pretty spent after packing up camp and got on the road back down south not too long after packing up.

Glad the campfire worked out for you.
-Bryan

gwadzilla said...

larry

did you see your image on my page?

http://bp3.blogger.com/_g0YuboCNUU8/Rjal5cJOrnI/AAAAAAAABCM/FowKOrWINVY/s1600-h/00larry1.jpg

good hanging with you this weekend past

on and off the trail

-joel