Monday, July 2, 2007

Meltdown





Solitude_3



Between the heat, the elevation, the 1000 feet of vertical per lap, a lack of training and even less motivation, I had a difficult race at Solitude on Saturday.  The first climb was up a paved, then dirt, road that is meant to allow us to sort ourselves out before jumping into the singletrack.  Well, it worked.  I was dropped before we got to the top.  Only my teammate Aaron was behind me, and he passed me on the second lap.  I rode the rest of the way alone, except for all the sport riders we kept passing, and had plenty to time to think about how fly fishing and backpacking are not appropriate substitutes for training for races at this level.  I wonder if bowling would have helped.  I did run over a Frisbee golf disc that was sitting on the trail, and I almost hit a disc golfer that wasn’t paying attention. 



Twelve of us started, I finished tenth, but at least I finished.  Two didn’t.   







Bmx_2



After the race Mags and I drove south to Rad Canyon, host of the American Bicycle Association’s Great Salt Lake National BMX races.   BMX racing is a totally different world compared to mountain and road biking.  Unlike mountain and road cyclists, who are generally skinny with shaved Popeye legs, these BMX cyclists have visible muscles in their upper bodies and don’t own razors.  Instead of two- to three-hour sufferfests, BMX races are 30-second sprints where the key is to be the first one into the first turn, then hold your speed through the bumps and jumps to the end.  We saw a lot of crashes.  BMXers all like to cruise around the parking lot without their shirt to show off their tattoos and sundry piercings to the groupies after a race.  Of course the groupies are actually their competitors’ little sisters, because BMX is having the same problems mountain biking is having in attracting interest from the general public.  I’m sure Mags and I were the only spectators that didn’t have a friend or relative in the races.  It’s too bad because there aren’t many kinds of bike races that you can watch from start to finish. 





Maybe BMX will get a little more attention soon.  It’s making its debut as an Olympic sport next year in Beijing, and the course at Rad Canyon is a replica of the Olympic course. They have weekly races, go check it out.   



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