High Cascades 100–err 65…

Today is my birthday and negativity of this rant is making me feel old!

Uh-oh–more to come. Maybe it is the life of a so-called “pro” mountain bike racer. Kind of a dismally futile experience! Sorry, now I digress…

I am not really sure why I started this race. Maybe it was redemption for the Cream Puff or most likely the fact that I got a free entry. In any case, it wasn’t such a brilliant endevour–but is riding 100 miles on a mountain bike going to ever be smart?

I was also wondering why my saddle was pointed straight up. Stopped to fix that only to discover that both tires were going flat. Stopped at the first feedzone and pumped them up and started digging myself out of the hole. Or maybe that was into a hole since most of the first fifty or so miles resembled a sandbox or the beach or something similar.

Reached the second feedzone and had began to cut my losses under 10 minutes to Chris Sheppard (Santa Cruz) and was now comfortably in second place. After some more smooth riding the gap was down to 6 minutes and I thought “Wow, this might turn out alright”–WRONG. Wrong as in wrong turn and 5 miles of joyriding through central Oregon singletrack before a decided there was no way the course could possibly be this FUN!

I was right, well wrong as it were and completely off course. Proving MY navigational skills are superb, I rode back to start with only a compass!

Another busted effort but nice to know my form is returning and I can still ride a bike fast.

Thanks for standing with me!