CHAINBREAKER, FUN AND VERY HARD

Sorry no photo today, I was busy racing not taking photos. I won, this my third victory this year. That is a lot for me. A little background though. They changed the age groups this year to 55+, my race age is 59 (60 for cross). At my age 4 years is a pretty big deal. We try to stay strong, healthy and fast. I think I can say I have done that.  I was asked after the race how many in my group. I thought about that and I thought why is that important. Is is the numbers or who is there? There were 5 in my group. 2nd, 3rd and 4th were all with in a minute of each other. Vince who was second beat me here a couple of years ago, he is a stronger climber than me, I am more steady. Ron is always strong. Rick who was fourth was ahead of me at my favorite race Bear Springs. The fact I could be ahead of them means I had a good race. Some of my old competitors don't race anymore. One was out skiing with his buddies, one was camping with his girlfriend and one was watching his son ( Carl) finish second in the pro race. Does that make my race less because they have chosen another path. I don't think so. I still like to go hard on my mountain bike. I battle whoever I am with. Yesterday it was with a racer named Mark who will be 55 next year. I beat him, after giving it everything I had, by around 5 seconds. In a two + hour race that is not much. I had to dig deep for that though. This is the first time I have won at Chainbreaker. I have had numerous podiums so it did feel good. This is race is so hard. There is no rest, the first half is kind of up and second kind of down. Pedaling about 98% of the time. No rest. I was tired and satisfied. Now- a 10 day mountain bike holiday in Scotland.

Don