After battling a head cold all week, I had pretty low expectations for today. Because of that, I started out pretty slow and decided to really try hard to pace myself better than I usually do. I got behind Kevin (sporting some fashionable compression socks) and just stayed there. This strategy worked surprisingly well. So well, in fact, that 3/4 of the way into the first lap I was in the top five and feeling great. I forgot all about my head cold and started thinking I had a chance.

That’s when everything went downhill–literally and figuratively. On one of the high speed descents I threw my chain and had to get off the bike. I guess I had been pushing a little harder than I thought, because my brain wasn’t working. My chain was stuck and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. After what seemed like a really long time, I flipped my bike over and got my chain back on track.

I was at least a minute behind the pack, and I had no choice but to red line my engine to catch up. Finally, I did catch up to Geno, Bob, Mike and a couple of other guys. I passed all of them, but Geno and Mike soon reminded me that I had spent a lot of fuel making up time. They went out in front of me. I was able to keep them in my sights, but I couldn’t close. I made up some time on the descent, but Geno was still ten or fifteen seconds ahead of me. I knew my only chance was to catch him on the little thigh burner hill near the end of the lap. I dug deep and pedaled as hard as I could. I caught him at the top with zero gas left in the tank. Then I pointed downhill and managed to cross the finish line a couple of seconds ahead of him. Great race Geno! And great job Mike–you never looked back on the third lap.

It wasn’t my greatest race, but it was a great time. It was also my 80th bike race, which seems like some kind of milestone. It is time to recover for race number 81 on Tuesday.

A few of the fast guys stayed home today. That did not make it any easier. I think everyone just went even harder because there was a good chance of being on the podium.

I made quite a few mistakes today. The first one was taking the lead and trying to keep it all the way up the first climb. We didn’t race here last year, and I forgot how long the climb really is. I almost made it though, but Jason, Dennis and Kevin passed me before the climb was over.

The first descent was a little shaky, but I kept most of the group in sight. The second climb was ok, but not great. I made a couple of miscalculations and put a foot down a couple of times. Then, major mistake number two: I had locked out my fork and shock for the second climb and forgot about it. So I rode the whole second descent locked out. I thought it was a little rough, but I didn’t realize it until I was at the bottom. I think that cost me a little time.

The third lap was pretty uneventful, but I did give up another spot. The good news is that I could see Mike trying to catch me, and I was able to hold him off. So I was able to finish in the top 5 in an ICup race for the first time this year.

A long race deserves a long post. It is crazy that I took 8th place and feel really good about it. It requires some explanation.

This was the first mountain bike race I ever did. In 2007, I showed up at 5 Mile pass and didn’t have a clue about anything. I raced the sport class (2 full laps rather then 3 like I did today). I think I nearly died completing those two laps, but it got me hopelessly hooked on this sport. I have raced this race every year since and, with the exception of one rain year in 2009, it is the exact same course every year. There was some talk this year of changing it to eliminate the excruciatingly painful hike-a-bike up Yellow Page Hill, but ultimately that fell through. So we raced the same course yet again today.

It took me 2:2:32 to finish those two laps back in 2007. Today, I finished three laps in a little less than 2 hours and 25 minutes. But that is perhaps the least interesting comparison I can make. The interesting comparisons involve the Expert 40+ group as a whole, and how it has now become the fastest group in the Intermountain Cup (other than pro). It is misleading to even call it 40+ anymore because some of the really fast guys are over 50. Now for the comparisons.

That same day I raced my first sport race back in 2007, only 5 Expert 40+ racers showed up at 5 Mile Pass. The winning time was 2:32:35. My time today would have taken first place by a mile. Conversely, the winning time in 2007 would have taken 13th place today. Do you think 2007 was an aberration? Well, my time today was faster than everyone in 2008 too. 2009 was a rain out, but what about 2010? I would have taken 2nd place. Well that leaves us with 2011. In 2011 I did race Expert 40+ with a time of 2:33:02. That effort earned me sixth place. My time today would have improved that to fourth.

So our group keeps getting faster and faster. Unfortunately, despite the improvement in my performance each year, the group improves even more. Our group consistently posts faster times than any other group other than the pro group. And the size of the group is crazy. There were over 20 riders in the Expert 40+ category today, compared to the five who bothered to show up in 2007. Some PhD Psychology student needs to study this and find out why there are over 20 people over age 40 in Utah who are willing to endure 2 and a half hours of sheer pain.

Before I forget, a few words about the race. I raced on my backup wheel set, because I pulled two goat heads out of my rear tire on Thursday night. One of the problems of running tubular tires is that it takes about two days to glue a new tire onto the rim. I could get the tire to hold for several hours with sealant, but ultimately I decided not to risk it, so I race on my other wheels with tubeless (rather than tubular) tires.

In case my tire troubles weren’t enough, I had a queasy stomach for the last several days. I think I was fighting off something. I felt ok, but I wasn’t sure how much this little bug had affected my strength.

I went to the line with fairly low expectations. I figured if my tires and my stomach made it through the race I would be happy. The start felt slow, so of course I made the mistake of passing people and soon found myself in the lead–not a good sign. It didn’t last long, but I did manage to stay in the top five for a lap and a half. All the guys that went past me were the really fast guys, so I knew I was having a pretty good day.

Higgins caught me right on schedule just before the second descent down the wash, which he rode like he’d had a few too many Fosters. He was all over the place and nearly crashed at least twice. We passed each other several times as we completed lap 2 and again on lap 3.

On lap 3 my stomach decided to remind me that it wasn’t 100%. I never puke during races, but it seemed like a realistic possibility today. I managed to avoid that, and I kept Higgins close. I knew it was going to come down to a sprint, which it did. I nearly had him too. A slow 30-39 rider got in the way, or I think I might have squeaked out the win. It didn’t matter. I could not have raced any better today.