By Brad Walker:
As always I want to thank Flying Dog and the Bike Dr of
Frederick. This week I became a proud owner of a new Cannondale F29 Lefty and
man oh man is it awesome. The shop set it up perfectly and I’m in love and I’m
sure that’s not legal if not weird. So this Sunday I made the trip to Fair Hill
Maryland to race in the second XC race of the Mid Atlantic Super Series which
is the Bike Line Spring XC @ Fair Hill. The road trip took a little over 2
hours and was uneventful except for the I-95 traffic.
Get to the race and start getting set up to race all out for
an hour or so.
Last week’s race was a good test to see how my fitness is coming
along and aside from a mechanical issue the race was good even if it is at
Greenbrier which I hate riding let alone racing. I’ve been racing now for about
a year and a half, and the few times that I have made the mental mistake of
starting out too hard I’ve paid for it and spent the majority of the race red
lining instead of racing a smart race. So I’ve learned a few things among
others this year already and have tried to use my screw ups as lessons learned
and try not to make the same mistakes. Maybe this is what people who have been
racing for years talk about, the experience factor. Not always is the fastest
rider the winner. There are so many little things that can be the differences
in winning and well not winning. So I take the lessons learned so far this
season and try and execute them into a strategy that will yield a win. I have learned that just lining up to
the start line and riding as hard as you can isn’t the same as a strategy and
sure as heck doesn’t always yield results. As a racer I want to win, I enjoy
riding and have really grown to love cycling both on the road and of course on
the trail but the real reason to racing is to win. Only in racing can you be
pushed harder and will come out a better cyclist and of course the experience
gained is enormous. So I am a smarter racer and plan to use that experience
today.
I warm up for about thirty minutes and can hear the
announcer saying the Cat 2 racers will be staging in ten minutes. So I make my
way to the staging area and line up with the group of guys that will be my
opponents for this race and eye them up. You can never judge a book by the
cover that’s for sure so I do my best to see who has legs the size of small
children and have that look about them. You know the look…I know the look lol.
So the stager counts us down and off we go, this is the first test to see if I
can implement my strategy and follow it. Instead of starting out full steam ahead
I let a few of the racers take off into the lead and I keep a solid decent pace
and find myself barely passing one of the racers and landing myself in second
place going into the single track of what will be a little over 7 miles of
sweet single track heaven. I keep a solid pace for the first mile and I catch
the leader and I can tell that he might have started out a little too hard…I
know the look…I’ve had the look! So he lets me pass and I offer to work
together but he can’t keep my pace so as I make my way around him and take off
down the twisty fast single track of pure bliss. As you can tell I really
enjoyed the trails here at Fair Hill and they were amazing.
So, back to racing…around mile 5. I start catching the back
end of the groups that went on before my class and everyone is very nice
allowing me to pass and I thank them of course as they will hopefully hold up
the chasers and allow me to gain more of an time advantage. So I am feeling
better than ever and very powerful in my pedal strokes so I just keep pushing
since I’m not really sure where the chasers are. The first lap goes by pretty
quick, not sure the time as I don’t use a watch or Garmin but it felt fast so I
throw a few cliff shots into my mouth and push on into the last lap. The last 7
or so miles are uneventful and I never get the feeling anyone is on my tail or
chasing too close so I keep pushing it and finish the race is 1st
place. So let’s see, my strategy
worked well, this isn’t always the case but today it did. The course was spectacular,
the Bike Line folks were awesome, and the new Bike from the Bike Doctor of
Frederick is my new best friend!! I have a nice shinny medal, a pretty cool
glass, and the series lead for the time being. Next week is the Iron Hill
Challenge in Delaware. I’ve only ridden there once and raced it on a single
speed but from what I can remember the trails are super sweet. Thanks for
reading and till next time…
