Priceless

Cost to enter a race
$30 entry fee
$4 Gatorade
$20 new bottle of Hammer Gel
$20 Gas
$8 lunch
Feeling just to finish - Priceless!

I have never gone into a race with a goal just to finish, but this week was different. I have all but given up on racing due to some serious back issues, plus time commitments with my kids activities has pretty much kept me off the bike doing any real type of riding. My 1st mountain bike ride in 10 months was last Monday with Green Niner John (formerly know as Green Trek John) and I struggled...a lot! Decided right then and there I was not going to come out of retirement and attempt to race Saturdays No Cents Mountain Bike Race in Sewell NJ......but later in the week I think I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was kind of grossed out by what I saw and thought it might be a good idea to race just for the exercise. So I decided to race Sewell this past weekend.

I had 2 goals:
#1 was simple - just to finish. Even up to racing last year I was always within distance of possible podium finished - just "to finish" was new to me, but giving what I had to work with, it was a sound goal to have.

#2 - don't finish last!

I always race with a plan of attack so I didn't want to make this race any different. I took a look at the MASS race results from earlier this year and decided I needed to try and say with a few racers that I have raced with over the years and felt I had a decent chance if I could just hang with their wheels.
Gary Grim (Pure Energy), John Miller (Guys Racing) and Robert Dudas (Guys Racing - Rob did not race). My plan was just to find any of these wheels and stay with them as long as possible - simple!

On to my race:
4 laps 22 miles, no hills, but no places to recover.
Start of the 1st lap and I'm sitting just meters off the main group - much better start than I expected. 1/2 way into the first lap I'm still just sitting off the main group and was feeling great that I was able to hang so close to the leaders - but common sense set in and I knew it was stupid to be anywhere up near the front so I backed off and settled into my own steady pace. At this point I was ahead of Gary and behind John (decent place to be in my "Plan")

2nd lap was more of the same - I held off being passed by anyone and actually was making some passes. I felt pretty decent although I did notice that I was super hot, I can't remember sweating so much in a race...I mean soaken wet head to toe in sweat - I guess fat makes you sweat more?

Start of the 3rd lap I passed John Miller and was still feeling pretty good although my back was now getting pretty sore. I was riding technically sound, steady pace although my results time would show I was around 1:30 slower each lap. Random thoughts started running thru my mind that I could end up having a decent race - stupid again I know!

CRACKED!
Yup, that's what happened - very end of the 3rd lap I Cracked. Back started really hurting and I just lost all my energy, just pedaling was a struggle. Both Gary and John passed be by so now my focus changed to goal #1 - Just to Finish! Which I did.

Normally I would have be extremely disappointed in my results - heck, this race results wise is probably my worst ever, but finishing Sewell I was actually very satisfied - almost could say proud of myself! I hung with and ahead of some very good Expert racers (who have been racing all year), I've had very limited riding time (and all that has been on a road bike) with Zero, Zip, Nada intensity - not even a fast group ride!

I put the mountain bike back in the closet...maybe I'll pull the MASS race # by next year?