show me state games

the kaiser and i decided that we would do the show-me state games mountain bike race in columbia sunday. the family outing was out of the question, being so hot and miserable, so we trekked out to mizzou country in a fine chrysler town and country. after an initial crack about how heavy my bike was, he settled down and was a model chauffeur.

it was hot. frying pan hot. africa during a humidity storm hot. hot. not many people showed up. it was a typical fat tire race, with a lot of the same friendly faces present. i hadn't ever ridden the rock bridge course, so i decided i'd better take in a full lap before racing. we had the time, because we got there early. i took it easy because, i think i mentioned this...it was hot.

what a fun course! swoops and dips and downhills and quick uphills. some rocks. cool turns. almost all under cover, all in the woods. 90% single track.

i started off fairly fast, as i wanted to get through the first single track section first. it was rocky and i didn't want to chance ruining a tire there. it wasn't really fast, like eric pirtle fast, but it was a fast start for my old body. 3 minutes into the race, i was alone. it seems i was going pretty fast for the competition that day, so i went with it. i kept a lid on it to ensure i wouldn't blow up in the heat. i built up a 7 minute gap back to second place, but i never closed on the four 34 and under riders. john rines was putting the screws to them until he flatted. i passed him while he was fixing it and he didn't look happy. i got to the finish line and only passed john and another guy that flatted, so it appears as though i would've only finished 3rd in the young'uns group. i didn't really have that carrot to chase, but i think that's an excuse. i didn't go as well as i could, maybe because of the heat. maybe that's an excuse too. on a positive note, the kaiser diced it out with a guy in our class and made the poor sap just drop out. it's always more fun when you race head to head.

the kids were sure happy to hear i won again. they made me a delectable surprise...chocolate flavored lucky charms. those darn kids.