Flower Power

Greeting from the Great Soggy North. Time here has been short as the weather lately resembles Bangladesh during monsoon season rather than Vermont in the spring. Record flooding of Lake Champlain and biblical rains kept us off the trails and made it hard to muster any motivation to do anything outside. We got a week and a half of sun and excellent trail drying weather leading right up to the first local race of the year. Lucky for us, the weather turned from sunny and 60 to 50s and steady rain for the 24 hours preceding the race.

The start was rather mellow, with a lot of people choosing to stay inside and couch surf rather than brave the rain, mud and freshly cut grass. Most of the Catamount Outdoor center trails are still drying out so the race was held on the hillside, where they hold the 'cross races in the fall. The course mixed in a good sampling of singletrack including trails like "the gullywhomper" although the majority of the race was wide open field. I felt like dog vomit the first lap, after trying to hang with the three leaders for about 30 seconds. I knew that wasn't going to happen, so I hung back and warmed up, and started to feel okay.

I kept the lead three in sight (sort of, since the course was mostly in open field it wasn't like they could hide) and just kept plugging along. Halfway through the second lap, I caught one of the leaders (the one who is 16 and blinded by the fog on his glasses) and passed him. Yup, no mercy, even for blind teens who, I found out after the race, waited for me so he would have someone to finish the last lap with. I am AWESOME! We rode the rest of the lap together, and I thought he was going to take me in the sprint finish (I am looking back to see where he is in the pic below)

I guess he really was tired though, because I finished two seconds in front of him. I think he just feels bad for me because I am fat and old. And I drive him to cool riding spots sometimes. I am sure that he will kick my ass many times this summer, so I have to enjoy this victory while I can.