Running

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Tour de Carmel 2006

Today was the 2006 Tour de Carmel.

Tm: 1hr. 41 mins.
Mi: 22.03
Tp. Spd: 22.5mph
Av. Spd: 12.9mph

D.IN.O.@TRTP Intro

I was pretty excited and nervous about my upcoming first race. So when the day came, I was ready. On the way to Mr. W's apartment we stopped at Steak 'n' Shake and got steak burgers and shakes.

When we got to the trail we unloaded our bikes and raced over to the registration tent. The lady handed us 2 long forms to fill out. We were like “Oh man, we don't have time for this!” So then I told her that Jon and I had previously registered, and we didn't have to fill them out. Whew! We got our number plates and started tying them on. Then Mr. W. took a bunch of pictures with his camera.

We also got our jerseys that we had purchased and tried them on. I had to get a large. Those jerseys were tight! Unfortunately the theme this year was "Peace, Love, Mountain biking" I'm not opposed to peace, but it always seems to be unsupportive of our troops. They were colored like they were tie-dyed. We both decided to not wear the jerseys in the race. We're going to wear them in the Tour de Carmel.

We got to the Starting line, after everybody else, while the announcer was giving the rules. We had almost missed our first race!!! After the horn, we all took off raggedly like a bunch of noobs. LOL. Jon wiped out about 30 seconds into it. About a minute later he passed me (like he always does) and kept up with the pack. I was tailing several of the stragglers and we kept trading positions in the beginning of the race.

When I cama to the overpass, I had to stop because my front tire's quick-release was loose. Some other racers from other classes passed me and yelled "Keep going!'... Pretty nice. They were all pretty friendly. I didn't have much trouble except for wiping out once and light stomach cramps. I was way ahead of the stragglers and behind the pack so I crossed the finish line alone.

When I finished, Jon was waving at me, and coasted to a stop. He came in 2 places ahead of me (he had taken a wrong turn somewhere and had to backtrack) We traded stories and more pics were taken. We traded in our number plates for t-shirts and sweatshirts. We unfortunately had to leave before the results were announced but I called the day after and found out. I placed 18th, and Jon came in 16th.

Anyway, I had fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again!

Lessons learned:
Always give yourself enough time for any unforeseen circumstances before a race.
Go over you bike and make sure everything is how it's supposed to be, it will save you time in the race.

Here are the pics the race photographer took:
http://www.dinoseries.com/mtb/photos/2006/race7photos.htm

Tm: 44 mins
Mi: 7.35
Tp. Spd: 18.2
Av. Spd: 9.8mph

Note; Stats include race, and to truck.

My first race is tomorrow!

I'm really excited and a bit nervous!

7 miler

To stay ready for the upcoming D.IN.O. race, I went to West Park, went up the big hill, did the big oop, went down the short trail, did the big loop again and went home with a little time in West Village.

Tm: 33 minutes
Mi: 7.39
Tp. Spd: 21.5mph
Av. Spd: 13.1mph

Soma Lever

I bought a Soma Lever at my LBS today when I was in to get a replacement bolt for my toe cups. The bolt was free and I needed a tire lever...

I didn't have much time, so I just circled Laurel Lakes.

Tm: 5 mins
Mi: 1.37
Tp. Spd: 18.8mph
Av. Spd: 15.5mph

I got a new helmet, a Giro Indicator

Bike Wave was out of medium-sized helmets, so I went to Nebo Ridge and bought a black '06 Giro Indicator. To get the specs, here's a link. I really like it so far, and hopefully I can get out and try it today...

Tm: 26 mins
Mi: 5.58
Tp. Spd: 16.2mph
Av. Spd: 12.8mph

Rum Run!

It's 5a.m. EST, I'm getting ready to go up to Plymouth to see some friends at the blueberry festival. We are also going to go to the Rum Run trail. I'll probably get home after 12, so stay tuned....

Later....
It was a great trip! We got in five laps, twice on the Beginner, twice on the Intermediate, and once on the Advanced.

The beginner trail was pretty smooth, while the intermediate had a lot more uphill and steeper turns. The intermediate had this awesome tabletop that you could get some air on. The advanced had a 15-foot drop/jump/hill that you could avoid, jump or ride down. I wasn't even going to think about jumping it.

Before we got to the trail while we were loading our bikes, the plastic shell fell off of my helmet. I knew it would happen some day. I rode with it loose all day, but I'm going to need a new one.
I will have to retire my well-worn Giro Mojave.

Tm: 1 hr, 23 mins
Mi: 11.44
Tp. Spd: 22.5mph
Av. Spd: 7.9mph

Bought a bike rack

So I bought a bike rack from Dick's. It's a Graber TrunkRack2, and it takes two bikes. It's all black and it can fit on cars, mini-vans, and SUVs without hitches.

It will come in handy.