Swank 65

I woke up to the sound of the annoying alarm on my watch, beeping into the cold dark morning. It was so warm under our comforter that I was mad at first. Then annoyed, then nervous, then hungry. So, I rousted the family. Jubal was wired from the start. He loves to come to my races and ring his cowbell and cheer me on. At one point during the race, after I had passed through the 3 rd and last rest stop, Jubal would yell" Go daddy, go daddy," every time another cyclist would ride up. Ahhh, my smack talking youngster.

We left the house as it was getting light. The sunrise was a beautiful combination of colors that rivaled the colors of fall. We got to the start/ finish with plenty of time to register, change and warm up. It was good to see TJ, from Liberty Bikes and his wife Jeanine. Also present were a bunch of Bio-wheels guys: Mike Brown, Eric, Matt, Ben and some others. A lot of out of towners had shown up. I met a guy from Nashville and a girl from South Africa who is now a permanent USA citizen.

Gather around for the riders meeting. The rules are laid out. The bikes are lined up. The racers grouped up at the start of the Le mans starting line. The Le mans start is a running start that someone thought would be good to help thin out the field before getting bottle necked on the single track.

Half a mile trail run, onto the bikes. I left the Start area in 25th place. Going up the first climb, I am breathing way to fast and my legs are sloppy, sapped of strength from the run. I lose several spots, which will become a pattern for the rest of the day. Onto the first clover leaf loop headed to the first rest stop. Just cruising along, trying not to push to hard, to ride my own race. One thing I learned this year is that I cannot race faster than I train. I soon find out that I am overdressed. I am sweating like it is the 4th of July. Fortunately Rhonda and Jubal have found their way to the 1st rest stop. I change out my long sleeve thermal jersey for a short sleeve jersey and arm warmers. I also change my thermal hat for a thinner lightweight cycling cap. Now that I have my temp. controlled, I move on to the second loop. We climb, climb and climb some more. Mostly old road bed that has become singletrack, the terrain is not too technical, with just enough creek crossings, and grapefruit sized rocks thrown in to keep it challenging. I see a Bio-wheels rider, Eric, ahead working on his bike: flat tire. I move on, 15 minutes later, Eric passes me. 5 minutes later I catch up to Eric. He is walking. Another flat. I offer my spare tube, neither one of us know how far it is to the rest stop.

Back to rest stop #2 ( same one as #1). This is the beginning of the long dirt road climb up to Farlow Gap. The down Farlow Gap Trail. Farlow Gap Trail is about 1 mile of hike a bike. Meaning, unless you are some insanely talented down hiller, you are walking. Very technical, covered in leaves, and steep. Fortunately it was dry. I get passed by 3 women on this section. ( How did that happen?) Down into the valley, up the other side, back out into the open forest. Down another trail, cruising, enjoying the scenery. Relax, brake, stand up and pedal, jump a log, relax, pedal......

Finally to rest stop # 3 where my family is again waiting. Rhonda hands me my bottle filled with sports drink, Jubal high fives, and I am rolling. The rest stop lady told me it was 3 miles uphill and 5 miles downhill to the finish. She is wrong. It was more like 5 miles up hill and 4 miles rolling terrain to the finish. So, I keep pedaling, up. The road passes Looking Glass rock where I can see about 5 climbers hanging out halfway up.

Not knowing how far was left, I am riding conservatively. It is a bad feeling to go all out thinking you only have 3 miles left, only to find out that you have 2 additional miles. At the one mile to go mark, I see someone gaining on me, now I go all out. 100 yards to the finish, I make a mistake by looking over my shoulder to see where he is. I almost crash over a 10 foot embankment. I hear him saying that he is done, and he backs off.

I cross the finish line, the crowd cheers, everyone is pushing and shoving trying to get my autograph. OK, not really. The crowd does cheer though, and my support team is there to see what I need. I don't know where I place, and am not worried about it right now. I just want to get changed and get one of those big fat juicy hamburgers!!!

It turns out that I placed 45th overall ( out of 130), and 9th in the single speed cat. The top 10 single speeders win a cog from Marshall Hance of Endless Cogs, a local cog manufacturer. Sweet! Pleased with my results, we hang out for a while, cheering the other racers, before heading home.