Friday, October 22, 2010

North Park Time Trial

The Month o' Mud set an attendance record last Sunday with 203 racers. Looks like mountain biking is getting more popular in Western PA.

Colleen came along and whined about how heavy her Karate Monkey is. It does weigh about 1/4 of her body weight, so maybe she's justified.

The race was a short 6 mile loop with racers starting at one minute intervals. Aaron figured the winning time would be under 30 minutes.

My start time was at 9:44, and Colleens was three hours later at 12:50. That's down side to having 203 riders at a time trial.

I sprint down a grassy hill to a tree, circle around it and start the climb up into the woods. Going as hard as I can, and it hurts.

Six minutes in I catch my first rider. I work though all the twists and turns and catch another guy. Try to get around them quickly. The seconds matter in such a short race.

I turn right on the expert loop and hit a super steep climb. I make it up, but I'm just barely turning over the pedals. At the top I hit it again. No time to slow down.

(breaking in the new goat kit. now I won't be so easy to keep track of in the woods. hooray)

My watch is at 28 something. Damn. I'm not going to make it in before the 30 mark. Head down and I'm spinning as fast across the flat section up top. Come on downhill. It's gotta be close.

Finally. I cross the road and do the last steep climb. Down the other side, skid around the big pile of roots, and up into the finish chute. Eh. That hurt. Had to be slow.

I stand around the finish line behind the laptop waiting for a time. The data is entered on the Excel spreadsheet. 31:06.

That's good enough for first in single speed, only about 20 seconds ahead of JPok. I tie for 2nd overall with Henry Spreng Jr. the Elder.

Most importantly, I finally crushed Gunnar. He may have been sick, riding a little fat boy bike with the brakes set up on the wrong sides, and not really racing me, but I'll take what I can get. Victory over the elderly!

We went off to do a little recovery lap of the park, and I was completely burnt. Apparently everybody else had a little gas left, because they were killing it.

Many hours later, Colleen did her lap. She rode well and took 3rd in sport women. That's good enough for a big $10 pay out. Very nice.

I keep telling her to paint that rigid fork a florescent color so that more people will notice it and give her kudos. After all, if you're doing something stupid, you better let everybody know it.

And now it's about time to start thinking about next year.

While I am making huge sums of money as a part time bike messenger, I still might need a little bit of extra funding for next year's race season.

Enter the first Official Knobby Meats Racing Conglomerate Fund Raiser. I'm gonna sell t-shirts Rad Racing style.

The prototype viking cat of destruction t:

Would it be better with a battle axe?

13 comments:

D-Pow said...

Rad racing & Crew Jones were definately BM (Before Montana). Instead of working part-time, get a full-time job like the rest of your competition & see how your results fair!

BTW, a battle axe would be wise. Along with your shirtless He-Man pose on a very bright orange colored t-shirt.

b said...

Ditto - working = money

Unknown said...

Hey Don, you should learn some respect for classic films. His name is CRU Jones. How dare you think that the name of a champion would be spelled logically?

And by "stupid" do you mean "highly economical" (and/or "awesome")?

D-Pow said...

You're absolutely right...I should never have mispelled Cru's name. As someone who owns a Rad Racing t-shirt & the movie on VHS, I should have known better. Hell, when I was younger I tried to build my own Helltrack in Monroeville.

When did I say "stupid"?

BTW, congrats on 3rd place Kahleen!

Montana said...

Well Don Powers, I think my results would fare better if I was paid big money to sit around all day and make snarky comments on blogs.

And if I worked more than three days a week I wouldn't have time to pursue a frivolous English degree.

So I'm selling t shirts dammit. AYHSMB.

Montana said...

Why does ditto - working = money?
How much ditto are we starting with?
Not all of us can understand those fancy lawyer equations.

When's the golf match?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

You have a Rad Racing t-shirt? Can I have it? Can we ride your Helltrack?!

And Montana said that my rigid fork was stupid. But he's the stupid one.

David Sopko said...

T-shirt design rocks! I wantz one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApxnAr6pRt0

Anonymous said...

Haha, I would wear that shirt!
-Carl

Montana said...

Awesome. Then they're gonna be made

samlikesbikes said...

How much will you pay me to wear your shirt? As an elite bicycle racer, I expect that the mobs of people who see me gracing the shirt will immediately go off and get one, turning a profit for you. Let me know.

Montana said...

Sam, since you're so elite, I'll make you a deal. 2 shirts for the price of two. I can do no more.