Race 4 – 2011 Charlotte Winter Short Track Series

ByMike Byrd

I was hoping for a good day on the mountain bike after last weeks successful race.  The racers were sure that the course was going to be a wreck as it rained pretty much all of Friday and most of Saturday morning.

I was able to get to the course a little earlier than normal and actually get about 25 minute warm up with some sprints to get the legs going.  They were a little sore because I reffed two lacrosse games in Chapel Hill on Saturday.  But I did feel good in the warm up.

The race started about the same except for some excitement right at the start. One rider didn’t hold his line and took out Sonny, my teammate.  I don’t know how many people were affected, but I was in the right place and entered the woods in 3rd place behind two American Classic riders.  They played it smart and on the second lap the rider in 2nd let a gap build for his teammate.  The fun started on the 3rd lap.   We quickly gained on the ‘younger’ sport group and I was passed by one rider in our group and ended up getting into the woods behind them and 4 riders from the 19-39 group.  Jamie let me pass him in and I was rolling along with the group, frustrated because I had to stay on the brakes when I got lazy. 

One of the left hand turns is off-camber, fairly sharp and turns uphill.  I let my front wheel wander about two inches off the trail and down I went.  My left knee hurt instantly.  I got up quickly and let Jamie go by. Got back on my bike with my handlebars slightly off kilter.  I didn’t lose much time and caught Jamie as we started the climb out of the woods. Once on the gravel road I passed the group and tried to get back into a good rhythm and  check my wounds.  The knee hurt and my arm warmer was above my elbow so I fixed the arm warmer and put my head down.  The kneed quickly started to feel better – or at least not hurt so much.

I lost sight of the rider in 3rd place.  I just kept riding as hard as I could.  I managed to get a lap or two through the woods without anyone in front of me and was able to get 3rd place back in sight.  I was doing my best to try to make up ground but was red lined every time we came up the hill by the ball fields. 

On the pavement, I could clearly see 3rd place and felt like I was making up a little time every lap.  Neal was yelling to catch him, my buddy John was handing my water bottle each lap told me that the riders in 2nd and 3rd place were hurting.  

Finally Neal said two laps to go and I went as hard as I could.  I caught some lapped riders but they let me by pretty quickly so they didn’t hold me up.  I kept hoping for a repeat of last week when the guys up front would bobble or blow up.  Unfortunately it didn’t happen this week.  I could see 3rd place all the way to the finish but couldn’t catch up and was probably 10 seconds behind him at the finish.

I went as hard as I could, recovered from the crash, and ended up 4th.   I really wanted to do better, but that’s mountain bike racing.  Pretty sore today (Monday) and am looking forward to the last raced of the series next week.

Wish me luck.

The Bike Racer

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the Internet. My name is Mike Byrd and this is my website. I enjoy sports, being outside, new challenges, marketing and anything that comes my way. I am the author of the blog posts on thebikeracer.com. I enjoy writing about cycling, poiltics, coffee and anything else that fits in the "My World" category. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to say up to date on anything new that gets posted to thebikeracer.com.

Similar Posts

  • Leadville 100 Race Report by Mark Odendahl

    ByMike Byrd

    The LT100 is a 100+ mile long (more on that in a minute) bike race that starts at an altitude of 10,200 ft above sea level in downtown Leadville and travels out into the Rockies and up to 12,544 ft. There are more than 14,000 feet of total elevation gain on a course that is about 80% rough fire road/double track, 18% pavement and 2% singletrack. It has 3 huge climbs and about a dozen smaller ones. Entry is by lottery – 1500 get in and reportedly over 10,000 entered the lottery to try after last year’s movie. What makes it special is that the entire field starts at once on the out and back course – Tour de France pros and amateurs alike all race together.

  • 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 1

    ByMike Byrd

    Chester and I left the Cool Breeze Cyclery at 3PM and headed to Augusta for the 2012 Paralympic Road Nationals.  We made it to Augusta in 3 hours and checked into the Sheraton.

    Chester asked me a couple months ago to pilot his tandem at Nationals but I don’t think I really understood how big a deal it is.  It started to sink in when we rolled through the hotel parking lot and there was a line of about 100 cyclists with their time trial bikes.  They were in line to get their bikes inspected by USA Cycling!

  • 2009 Tree Shaker Mountain Bike Race Fort Mill, SC

    ByMike Byrd

    The Tree Shaker 12 Hour race in Fort Mill, SC was my last ‘race’ of the year. Anything from here on out will be for fun.

    Last year, my team of Neal Boyd, Scott Streuer and myself took overall honors in the 3 person team event. This year, TJ Wood took Neal’s spot as Neal had timing responsibilities.

    The forcast was for wet weather but thankfully, we only had a few sprinkles throughout the day. TJ took the first lap, me the second and Scott took the third lap. The first lap always seems to be the hardest as you are trying to go fast, learn the course and not blow yourself up for the rest of the day. I had a great first lap and was looking forward to a good day.

  • 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC 2009

    ByMike Byrd

    Another 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC has come and gone. We (mostly Mike) put together a team consisting of me, Mike Levine, Ashley Drum, Jasen Taylor and Shannon St. Claire (Brushy Mountain Bicycles). John from Cool Breeze Cyclery was our mechanic. Mike rented a sweet RV fifth wheel for us to set up camp – or really so that he could have A/C and a shower. (Which Ashley made the most use of all weekend). Mike went up on Friday night to reserve our spot and set up camp. We definitely had the best spot as we were overlooking the lake and trees on the opposite side of the lake – and got to watch every racer finish his/her lap. Fortunately he was in the RV when the big storm hit on Friday night that would have an effect on the rest of the weekend.