Well after almost a 1 1/2 years off of serious racing I decided to hit the secene early this year with the Echo to Echo race in Oregon which amazingly draws about 500 riders. I went into in with no expectations since my riding has been limited to about 2-3 times a week and running all other days. I am fresh off the Carlsbad Marathon so I figured that would be helpful in some way. We left the kiddos with the grandparents and headed to Echo, Or with 2 other guys. It was a whole lot of gear talk the entire way down, I was dying to get out of the car. When we arrived we went straight to the registartation, I had changed in the car so I was ready to roll, well after we got back from registratation the girl in the car next to us was polite enough to tell me I had a whole in my shorts, yep my hinney was sticking out. So after a little embarrasament, she lent me an extra pair of her shorts. So the day was starting off awsome!!! I had blown the rear shock on my full suspension on Sunday prior so I was riding my Ibis Tranny HT. This was such a full suspension course. The race started out of town on roads with about 200 Pro/Cat1/SS racers. Talk about a crazy start. We finally hit single track about 3.5 miles in. I wasnt exactly in the greatest position but figured it was a long race and I would work my way up. It was pretty fun flowing single trace, but bumpy as all get out. I moved up pretty quickly and within 15 min there was only 1 expert girl in front of me. I had no Idea where she was, somehwere in front. The day brought us 60 degree weather which is about 25 degrees warmer that I had ridden in in months, but the constant wind of 30-40 miles per hour was crazy. When there was a cross wind I had to make sure not to get air on anything for fear my bike might not land tire side down, then when the trail turned downhill it was always straight into the wind and pedaling down hill was a must. Still the course was a blast until 2 hours hit and my arms felt light spagetti and my bike sounded like it might break in half. The Ibis tranny has a bolt so you can extend the rear triangle to tensions a single speed. Well it was a little loose and making some crazy noises, I didn't really feel like stopping because I just wanted to get the race over. Well the last 50 min lasted a lifetime it felt. It was constant climbing on a side hill into the wind, at times I wanted to stop and cry, but knew the only way back was to pedal. I was pretty excited to see the finish. I was hungry and tired. I wasn't exactly sure how I did, but I had won the Pro field and humbled just slightly by an early season expert. Well, now I just wan't wait for some good weather, training, and sweet racing.
Here is a link to one photo.
http://photos.oregonvelo.com/p/echo12start/echo12a0136_11_10_10_5
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