the old standby, castlewood mtb race

i've been racing at castlewood since january of 1989. yeah, the place has changed pretty dramatically over time, but it's still the same place.

i was talking to people over the last few days and we were musing about how hard it is to get pumped for another race at the 'wood. there is only so many ways you can cook chicken, and there are only so many ways to race at the same park.

after today, i have to say that i was wrong.

today was a backward up grottpeter, rollercoaster, ranger station, love, grottpeter, justin's loop that i would have never liked on paper but really liked in practice. it was quite fun, even the gratuitous creek crossing.

there was a great turnout today, with plenty of speed represented in both the younger and older expert classes. not only did i have to contend with the murderous john matthews, but john rines finally got over the masters racing phobia and joined in our little group. of course, mr. rines made it a very hard race and i have to think that if he had been racing all year like i have, the outcome would have been different. i managed to win this incredibly fun race and the drj boys made sure we were paid well for the efforts. fantastic race!

notable events at the race:
-my pit crew (the beautiful mrs k, hanna, and eli) helped me immensely by cheering me on and handing me water
-mike barro flew past john rines and i so fast down ranger station that we thought he was shot out of a rocket. really, it was a sight to behold. i even told him so when i climbed past him on the love climb...he was on a single speed, too!
-the rider traffic on the course while the race was going on was pretty dense. that leads me to believe that there must have been a good turnout in the other classes, too.
-ruben and cristel brought isabelle to the races and the kids enjoyed the creek, and the girls went for a ride after the race was over.
-eli disappeared from the pavilion just before the awards. i frantically sought him out, finding him at the pavilion at the rear of the park. that's about a quarter mile away. how he got across that whole field before i knew it, i'll never know. scared me to death.
-the kaiser returned to racing today after a forced layoff for a neck problem. he and i now share pain in the neck stories.