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A.K.A. Cookin' in the Kettles.
Please forgive me for taking so long to publish this race report. It's taken this long to recover. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The race took place on Sunday, April 5th at Fort Ebey State Park, on Whidbey Island. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It is a great venue. I highly recommend attending this race in the future.
Each lap had 1,500' of short climbs, swoopy descents, tight switchbacks and fast straightaways. I don't recall a flat spot on the course. Trail conditions were pretty dry, it was nice finishing with a clean bike for a change. The distances were Beginners-7 miles, Sport-14 miles and Expert-21 miles. It was a tough course. There were only a couple of spots on the course that would allow any recovery.
Beginners, Sport and Single Speed riders started at 10:00. Expert riders started at noon.
Team TAI had seven riders turn out for the race.
It sounds like Matt had a good day. He finished with a win in the Expert Men's 40+ category. I heard that he was looking for a middle chainring before the start of his race. I'm not sure if he found one or not. That guy is amazing.
Henry finished in the second place spot in the Sport Men's 40+ category. Way to go Henry!
Chris L. had a good race; he seemed pretty cheerful when he passed me a couple hundred yards from the finish.
Francisco did well with a 15th place finish in Sport, Men's 40+. Francisco is a great guy and a lot of fun to race with. I didn't get a chance to talk to him after the race. I'll explain later.
Jenn had been fighting an illness for the week prior to the race. She completed the first lap but did not feel well enough to continue.
Daniel wasn't able to complete his lap in time to get a finish. His mother was ready to call in the Coast Guard for a Search and Rescue mission by the time he came back. He did manage to find a machete that was lost the day before by one of the crew laying out the course. I was afraid to ask Dan how many trees he cut down with it while he was out there. His mother and I are happy that he still has all of his fingers and toes.
For myself...I felt great and was doing well until about a mile and a half from the finish. I could feel that I was starting to run out of energy. What I would have done for a GU Energy product! About half a mile from the finish, is the start to a pretty tough climb. It took everything I had to make it up the climb and back to the finish line. The thing that kept me going was knowing that there was a box of doughnuts sitting on the table at the finish line and that I would be able to have one when I got there. The last half mile seemed to drag on forever as rider after rider passed me. Finally I made it and crossed the finish line.
As soon as I was in a spot where I would not get run over by other riders finishing, I fell over and laid in the bushes. When Kim came over to see if I was still conscious, I asked her to grab me a doughnut. I lucked out, there were two left. I felt like I was in heaven after the first bite.Anyway, if this race report seems like it is lacking in content, now you know why.
I did learn a valuable lesson, I'll make sure that I get enough to eat before a race and carry some GU Energy Gel with me.
-Bob McGee
Beginner Boys U-18
DNF Daniel McGee (was having too much fun)
Sport Women 30-39
-1 lap Jenn Sinclair (not feeling well)
Sport Men 30-39
5 Chris Liebsch
Sport Men 40+
2 Henry Shaw
14 Bob McGee
15 Francisco Pons
Expert Men 40+
1 Matt Lynch
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