Arleigh Jenkins

[gallery link="file" order="DESC"] Officially by the dates we are half way through the Wednesday Night MTB Series.  There was two rain outs, so by the numbers we aren't half way done yet. Last race I DNF'd.  Moving up to Sport was a crappy move on my part, twice as long of a track at the hardest course in the series - US National Whitewater Center. Okay, it's really not a hard trail.. but on a singlespeed, out of shape, dehydrated and on a pretty damn hot day.. the course sucks. Especially when you have to go around the whole thing twice.  So I quit, I rode slowly through the last half of the course after bonking with a co-worker.  Thankfully he was there to get me through the woods. That was two weeks ago, since I have actually ridden my bike, rode a mountain bike off road a couple times and done a little bit of unorganized/thought out training.  This week I had a mission to complete.  That is goal #1 this season, complete the Sport races.  Thankfully Stephanie stuck with me and got me through the course. Last, but not a quitter.  9 more races to figure out what Goal #2 is.

When a day starts with a cup of coffee at 8:30am that isn't finished until about 2pm, you know your day is going to be long.[gallery order="DESC" orderby="post_name"] Lack of hydration, lack of riding and a boat load of excuses made my Wednesday night race very painful.  So painful that I am feeling it 24 hours later in my calf muscles that must of been sucked dry of any water or sodium. The postives for the day were my "key throwing" face captured on camera & new kits for the shop finally arriving and looking super swizzle.   There were other things thrown in there but for now my brain is cramping and I really need to hit the hay.

[gallery order="DESC" columns="5" orderby="post_name"] No, milk, brownies & training plans normally don't go together.  But they are because the brownies need to be out of the house by tonight if I want to keep motivated and charging ahead on riding/training. Memorial Day, a day off and a good day spent with the boys.  The rain on and off will keep BBQ's indoors and grills cooled off.  We'll see where the afternoon leads us.

[gallery order="DESC" columns="4" orderby="post_name"] Race report to come but for now I leave you with an awesome video from Tom Matthews of the Tarheel Trailblazers.

[gallery order="DESC" orderby="post_name"] Flowers made me happy yesterday so we will continue on to photos that make me happy. Today we have "sky photos."  I've always loved the sky, sunset's and lighthouses.  Even when I was in 4th grade I remember painting furniture in my room (why did you let me do that mom?) with lighthouses, storm clouds and sea life. Tomorrow we may start moving on to various bikes that make me happy, but tomorrow is race day and I may be in "race mode."  Regardless, come hang out at North Meck park tomorrow 6:15pm, heckle me and drink some drinks, grill some hamburgers.

If you're reading this you already know that the local series is rained out.

This past Wednesday kicked off the Charlotte area mountain bike series.  This 16 race series runs on Wednesday nights from April through September with races in 5 different parks in the area with every 5th Wednesday off.

The first race of the series was a test of memory.  Here's my list of idiot moves :

1. Hadn't ridden a mountain bike in a month
2. Rebuilt my singlespeed 29er 2 days prior
3. Only rode this bike once before the race
4. Hadn't ridden this particular trail in a year
5. Was sandbagging thanks to riding a single speed.  I didn't renew my yearly USA Cycling license so I was able to race beginner. I don't feel so bad due to the lack of riding and gears.

The Trek Bicycle Store had a great showing of folks to the line.  1 guy in super sport, 3 guys in sport, and me in singlespeed beginner women.  Also, one girl manning the grill at the tent and another guy in an arm sling manning the camera.  We milled around the start line for a few minutes, talking to various classes and trying to get a grasp of what this season would be bringing.  Talked to the two girls I would be racing against, Crystal and Bobby.  Bobby is a local Dirt Diva so I know her and know she's a strong rider.  She also was refusing to move up to Sport based on her age and that girls don't have a masters category.  Crystal seemed to know her stuff, mentioned she is coming from a bmx background and started downhilling lately. We line up on the end of a gravel road, the idea of the road is to separate folks before the entrance of singletrack.  Well it worked, Crystal left Bobby and I in her dust.  I did my best to keep up but spinning 32x20 I must of looked like a wind up toy with my legs spinning so fast. I would keep seeing glimpses of Crystal for the next 15 minutes until we hit the "double black diamond." This is where I had fail#1 on the bike.  I told Bobby to go around me as she was on a geared bike and that I would sit on her wheel until we got out of the "black diamond section."  She agreed and said she was happy to sit on my wheel the rest of the race.  We get through most of the section and come upon a kid on his side in a rock garden.  Bobby stops to help the kid up, he is working on clipping in and she passes him.  He gets in and sits on her wheel.  Now there is a kid between Bobby and I, fail#2.  I'm asking to pass the kid and he runs right into a tree.  As he starts to scream I jump off my bike running to his aid.  Manually having to clip him out of the pedals and trying to calm him down.  Well... the kid jumps back on his bike and takes off.  Now I'm off my bike, Bobby is done with the section and gone and the kid is now again between me and 2nd place.  I get on and do my best for damage control.  The kid won't let me pass him when I catch up with him.  His father hands him a bottle on a small road section and helps block my pass as well. Finally we get to where there is some climbing.  I figure at the top switch back there's a clearing and I'll pass the kid.  He doesn't exactly have standing/climbing/clip in down and went down again.  Again, screaming.. I hop off once more to unclip him and see if he's okay.  He took a chainring into the calf and is pretty upset but again..he hops on his bike before I can get my bike and takes off.  Frustrated I call out my pass at the top of the climb and leave him.  Feeling guilty that I'm frustrated with an 8 year old and more frustrated with the 8 year olds parents who put him on clipless when he doesn't have the handling or mindset to deal with those things. I do my best for damage control but by now I've been off the bike twice trying to help which added up to at least 5-8 minutes.  I figured to ride it out and finish the race as strong as I could. Ending up in 3rd out of 3, 3 minutes back from 2nd and 6 minutes back from 1st I was very very disappointed but knew I did the right thing stopping to help.   I learned from this week that unless there's blood or someone knocked out, I'm not stopping. The best part of the race was hanging out, eating burgers and enjoying a lot of good people.  Check out our custom burger flippers (yes I forgot the flipper.) Thanks to Melissa for being a great trooper and cooking!

Our team ended well.  Mike Sciame winning Super Sport, Darcy Letourneau coming in 3rd in Sport 19-34, Bruce Stauffer at 5th in Sport 35-44 and Jamie Haessley flatted within 3 miles of his first lap. Tonight is the Renaissance race, it's been pouring here for two days straight so the chances are high that the race will be canceled.