Get Our Newsletter! Sign up today!
Sunday was a good day on the bike at the Charlotte Winter Short Track Series. The weather finally turned and I was able to race without arm or knee warmers. It felt good to feel the sun on our skins and actually work up a sweat.
This past Sunday was the second race of the Charlotte Mountain Bike Winter Series. I was hoping for a better result than I had the previous weekend. The weather was colder but it was dry (finally) all week. I got to the course around 10 to watch Lexi (Jasen Taylor’s little girl) while he raced. Watching them race got me a little excited to get going and the good news is that the riders were staying dry and mud free.
Hard to believe that the 2011 season has started. Even more scary is that I have no miles on my legs this year. I adopted a puppy (Ryder) in November and then the temps went south – WAY south. It’s been 10-15 degrees below normal here in Charlotte, NC. So needless to say, before Sunday’s mountain bike race, I had only two days on the road and a few cyclocross races in December for training.
Well, it’s hard to believe it’s been two weeks since I completed Ironman Cour D’Alene on June 27, 2004. I just wanted to take a minute and say thanks for all of the well wishes and support. I also wanted to give everyone a rundown of what the day was like.
Holy Cow, Wednesday, April 11 was the first race of the Charlotte Speedway Time Trial Series and one word describes the TT – OUCH.
Sarah and I left the shop around 4 to get to the race and like always, one thing led to another, we had to pick up something we forgot (wheel and timing chip), put gas in the van (as always), school traffic and managed to get to the track around 5 and lost our customary spot near registration and ended up on the backside of the garage.
The 2012 Dillworth Criterium was my first road race of the year. Dillworth isn’t one of my favorite courses. I find it to be a challenging course with a long, steady climb on the front stretch, plus it’s usually the my first road race of the year so my body isn’t used to the effort required in a criterium.
My race started at 2. I arrived a little early to catch the end of the Cat 4/5 race to see my friend Mike Levine finish up. After that, I rode my bike around for about 20 minutes to get the legs going.
April 15, 2012 was the inaugural NODA Criterium held in NODA (North Davidson) in Charlotte, NC. Since I had raced the Dillworth Criterium the day before, I slept in and did somethings around the house before heading down to NODA.
I arrived about 45 minutes before my race, got dressed and found Mike Levine of Mills-Levine. We warmed up for about 20 minutes. MIke had raced the 4/5 race and was going to race the 3/4 race. This would be our first chance to race together. The course in NODA is super fun. it has 6 turns and is a fast course with a long uphill drag on the back of the course.
I headed down to Charleston, SC for the 2012 I’on Village Criterium and the SC State Championship Criterium the following day. I’ve made this trip the last 3 years with Neal Boyd and several of the Clif-Bar Giordana Brica team members. We went down Thursday night, woke up early Friday and went Kayak Fishing with Neal, Leah and Shirlene. Good times.
It’s always a fun trip and the course at I’on Village is a lot of fun. I wake up, help Neal set up the course and then hang out until my race. I did the Cat 2/3 race and it didn’t start until 1:50. So I went back to the house and did a 20 mile ride on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan island with Shirlene, Alison and Leah. It was a perfect warm up for my race.
The first official race of the Charlotte Summer Series Mountain Bike Series hosted by Charlotte Sports Cycling was at North Mecklenburg Park. I took the Cool Breeze Van down N. Meck and set the tent up. With this being the first race and at a relatively easy course, the numbers were impressive. I’m betting Neal had over 150 racers. The Cool Breeze/Trek Bike Store team had 12 racers! A great turn out!
I decided to race the Super Sport class for the summer series. I considered the Expert class but don’t have a USAC expert license so I couldn’t sign up for the extra length required of the expert class. We had 12 racers in the Super Sport class which is a great turnout for this class.
My second race of the Charlotte Summer Mountain Bike Series was at Renaissance Park in Charlotte, NC. The course at Renni is a lot different from N. Meck. It’s longer and more technical, a lot more technical. It also uses most of the Winter Short Track Series Short Track Course.
Andy and I took the Cool Breeze Cyclery van down to the race. It was hot and we decided a warm up wasn’t necessary!
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!
Today (6/21/12) was Day 2 of our trip to the 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships. Today’s event was the Time Trial National Championship.
Chester and I didn’t start until 3:15 so we were able to sleep in – until about 7:15…which was late for me. We got up and had breakfast, ran an errand and then came back to the hotel room. Our plan was to stay cool, get hydrated and then to get to the venue around 1pm to get our race numbers, check out the start and warm up.