Slow Motion with D

Same course, same huge turnout, but one more competitor.  Chris Sheppard.  He’s fast and was one of Canada’s best pro mountain bikers a few years ago.  This year, he’s decided to do cross for the first time, and he’s flying.  The start was very similar to last week.  Tim Jones goes crazy, Shep goes even more crazy, and I have a slow start.  Again, I was only steady, not super fast.  I slowly worked my way through the top 10 guys and after a few laps found myself in 3rd with Chris up the road, and Tim in the middle.  Out of nowhere the finish line judges started giving me splits to Tim as if he was in the lead.  Sure enough I saw Chris off to the side on the next lap.  Some heated words and a puncture had taken him out of the race, so it was down to a battle w/Tim and me.  I dug deep and with 10 minutes to go, I caught Tim.

I could tell he was done, so I sat in for a short stretch before the hill.  My plan was to attack and try to get rid of him in one swift blow.  Only problem was, that we came up on a lapped rider and Tim took the good line around and up the hill.  I was feeling good and thought I could squeeze by on the right.  I was wrong.  I ended up running over the little metal course marking flags and I wrapped 3 of them into my cassette.  At the top of the hill, right where I was gonna make my move, my chain fell off and I had to untangle the wires.  Tim was gone.  I started riding and settled into the fact that I was going to get 2nd.

With 3 laps to go, I was getting a 15 second split.  All of a sudden I heard Bart yelling at me, telling me that I could catch Tim.  He was tired and making mistakes.  I thought to myself, Bart’s right, why should I settle for 2nd.  Once again, I started digging deep and brought back time in all the sections.  Bart was awesome coaching me from the sidelines and Tim and I hit the run up together on the last lap.  I went into the run first, but couldn’t find my pedals on the other side.  Tim came around me on the inside just as I clicked in.  We were shoulder to shoulder at the bottom and people were going crazy!  Tim races a single speed, so I knew I could push a bigger gear than him, and that’s what I did.  I shifted down the stack, heard Bart yelling for me to go, and I accelerated down the long, bumpy section dropping Tim and finishing the race alone up the final hill.  A great race with Tim, spectators were stoked and I got another early season success!

Quite a name, huh? This years Thrilla race series brought a new course location and many, many more participants. Web cyclery has done a great job promoting this series over the years, and it’s like our very own mini cross crusade. I mean, we’ve got bikes w/panniers AND national champion Ryan Trebon at the same race. My main focus this summer was to stay on my bike. Plain and simple, just stay riding. Sounds easy enough, but it’s something I’ve been unable to do in the past. Something always derails me. This year was different and the first Thrilla gave me the first test of this year’s fitness. I’ll admit, I was excited for this series, and the knowledge that local frame builder, Wade of Vulture Cycles, was making a custom trophy for the winners of each class gave me some extra motivation. Here’s a recap of the first race:

Thrilla 1: None of the real heavy hitters in Bend (as in Decker, Craig, Trebon, Sheppard) showed up for this one, but we still have quite the list of fast racers. Tim Jones, Carson Miller, Jimmy Wills, Eric Martin and former national champion (road 2x) Bart Bowen were all at the start line. Also, to my surprise, Ian Brown showed up from Portland. In my mind Ian was the man to beat as we started our first lap. Tim Jones is a crazy fast starter and it took 3 or so laps before contact was made with him. Ian, Tim and I separated ourselves from the rest of the field and that’s how the battle played out. First I got by Tim and then I set off after Ian. After catching and passing Ian, I was alone for over half of the race. I never felt super fast, but I felt steady and strong. I didn’t really have any hard accelerations, but the steady power allowed me to keep Ian at bay and I was able to ride my own race to my first ever victory as an A!

 

 

Cross season is here! Recognize Fool!