Rides and a Race Pace

What a great weekend.  It all started out with a wonderful "medium" speed ride for 60 miles with members of the Faith Runners Club.  These are some of the same people I do my time trials with and they are all nice.  The pace was nice and the people were the same.  We chatted about the Trail to Trail race Sunday (Many of them were doing it, as well) and I made a comment that I would probably just save my energy and not ride a century Saturday before the race.  But, with Kent riding his bike out from Tampa the words didn't last.  I drove home and jumped on the bike again and set out to meet him west of Plant City.  The ride went well and I met up with him as planned. Heading into the city, he asked if I’d had lunch and I said no so we pulled over and we checked the GPS for something close settling on Mexican food as the other wasn't in the place it was listed.  The food was great and it was interesting watching the families watch the soccer match on TV in Spanish. After we ate, it was off again and back to the house where we diagnosed issues with my front wheel and headed back out to drive the race course for the Sunday Trail to Trail race.  After we got back, we cooked venison tacos and I had a couple beers while we watched a movie.  I ended up with 90 miles for the day and Kent ended with 100.

The next day, we were up at 6:30 and checking equipment, packing fuel and bottles and heading out the door for a ride to the race.  It was a nice pace down the road and we stopped for a stretch to counteract the nasty feeling lethargic legs:-)   By the time we rode into the park and did some warm up laps, we were a little over 9 miles.  Then we sat...It was a long setup.  Thanks goes to LeRoy's Bikeworks for the Jerseys and the opportunity to race for you!!

Enjoying the relaxing morning before the winds kicked up.

The race is a multiple bike race.  There is a mountain bike leg of about 8 miles,
followed by a road leg of 31.5 miles, followed by another mountain bike leg.  Many, like me and Kent, chose partners. While some choose to do the whole thing. Some...all on a mountain bike...yikes! 

Jason and I before the start.

My partner, Jason, and I checked in and got our bags while Kent had to wait as his partner was coming from Tampa.  His partner was an 11 yr old girl who is a monster on the mountain bike.  She passes many women and is fearless.  After everyone was checked in, the races started with some races for kids, which were incredibly fun to watch!  My neighbor even placed first in his age group!  

Then it was time to start...The mountain bike race is crazy.  It is started as a mass start and about 60 people cram into a road portion followed by a single track mountain bike trail.  Jason did well, although he got squeezed and ended up coming out of the trees about 20th? overall.  Very nice, Jason!   

Thank you to Tony Hechler for the picture of Jason!

Heading out of the park.

On the road, things went according to plan.  My goal, after talking to Kent, was to shoot for a 24 average.  I thought this was doable, but was having doubts as the wind was brutal heading south.  I tried not to look at my speedo and just sucked up riders one by one.  I was also stopped for about 5 seconds at a light crossing 60 southbound and had to deal with a honking driver.  Gotta love it!  I knew I was heading into the faster riders when they took much longer to soak up.  I chased one for about 4 miles.  

This took forever!!!

He jumped on and we worked together for a bit.  He was a nice guy from LeRoy's and I asked if he was in the team groups.  He said yes.  I knew I had more than he did so I said I had to leave him behind.  He said no problem telling me there were about 6 left in front of him.  The next guy, I caught in about a mile.  He wasn't as nice and wouldn't work with me, trying to just grab my wheel the whole time and being condescending toward me and my bike.  So, he has no problem being mean all the while sucking my wheel.  I said see ya...It's funny how mean we can all be on the bike.  He and I are much nicer in person, I swear!:-)

I didn't catch anyone after that, but hit the light coming into Mulberry that cost me about 30 seconds or so:-(  And, then, getting ramped back up to 28 was pretty difficult even in a tailwind.  After that, it was a straight shot into Lakeland and a quick turn into the park.  It was all I could do to fight the headwind and just hit 24, but I knew people were watching and I couldn't let myself down.  I cruised into the hand off area and hopped off my bike and ran to hand back off to Jason.  Off he went...My split was 1:17:06.  This gave me a 24.5 average!

Splits for the teams.

After about 15 minutes I saw him walking out of the trees with a flat tire.  We were out of the race.  The funny thing is that I didn't even really mind.  I was happy and he had a good time and wasn't broken so it was a successful race! 

Kent heading out!

Kent and his partner did very well!  Kent was able to put in a heck of a time and help shoot them into 3rd place!  This girl of 11 was the first woman rider out of the trees and secured a nice medal!  Very impressive and Kent was ecstatic!  

3rd Place in Co-ed division!

After the awards, Kent and I rode home and I helped him get his stuff together and ate before he rode back home.  This was a wonderful weekend for me.  I had a good time and we were able to compare notes and I was able to learn a good deal about my performance.  I look forward to more good rides with Kent and many of the others that were at the rides this weekend!