Born to Ride

(See attached file: Born to Ride.jpg)
Here's little recap of the Shannock Valley and 6HOP races. OK finally feels like I'm getting back and track with racing and what not. This was going to be the first weekend with two races in a along time. We planned on going to the 6 Hours of Power on Sunday. The Shannock Valley race was on Saturday and it was on the way to the 6HOP. I've done it before but not sure how many times and when was the last time. It always seemed to conflict with something else. But I remember it was pretty short only like 10 miles, not to technical and very fast. We got there and registered and then got ready I seen allot of familiar faces that I haven't seen in a while. At the start they were happy almost 100 racers 95 to be exact. The weather didn't seem like July it was overcast and humid but only like 70 degrees.

As soon as we started I realized that the new chain I put on last night didn't match up to well with my cassette. After a few minutes I started to find which ones worked OK and which ones didn't. The race started on a paved road then we went some grass which looked like it was someone's yard. Back onto some blacktop and up a long climb then onto some double track dirt roads. Not long after this there was just three of us Travis, Shane and me. It had rained the night before it wasn't muddy but it was slick and there was lots of water puddles. The three of us rode together for a while then we started into some single track and Travis was leading. Soon the trail started going downhill and so did I that's when Travis put a little gap on me. Since I've broken my wrist I'm been really dogging it on the downhills and in the technical sections. There's lots of reasons I guess but the biggest ones are I don't want to test it and see it fail, and by not riding fast everything is off like my timing and reaction time. But with the little gap he had on me I managed to miss a turn. Lucky for me Shane was close and yelled at me that I was going the wrong way thanks Shane. After getting back on course I was riding behind Shane for a bit. Then he almost missed a turn and I got around him. I seen Travis a few times and also looked back and seen Shane a few times. But before anything else changed it was over and Travis won I was second and Shane was third.

I spun around for a little bit and then got back to the finish hoping to catch Ruth coming in. But she went to fast and I missed her finishing. But the good news she won the women's overall. We got cleaned up and headed over to the park where the awards were going to take place. There was also a festival going on with lots of good food and some small rides and games. That's when the rain started but it didn't last to long. So after some good food and a new trophy it was time to hit the road. www.runhigh.com has all the results

So were off I've been to Ellicottville 5 or 6 times and had a good idea on which way to go. There's a couple of different ways to go 79 to 90 to 86 to 219 I've never went that way because I really don't like driving on interstate. Another way is up 28 to 66 to 6 to 219 which is the way we usually go and it a scenic drive up thru the forest that never seemed to bad. The other way was the way my iphone and google maps sent us which about the worst way possible or at least it seemed that way. Up 28 to 80 to 219 and it was such a struggle just trying contain all the road rage I was getting. But during a bathroom pit stop is when we scored the mother load of free stuff. There's allot of things when the word "FREE" is put before are allot more appealing. So here's the list hot dogs, red neck hats, lighters, cans of pop, small snack sized bags of chips, and red neck tee shirts. I picked up a few can you guess which ones? If not that's OK my list was a hot dog, red neck hat, and some lighters. Ruth's list was small bag of chips and a can of pop.

After a drive that took an hour longer and was 30 miles longer we finally arrived Eillicottville. We met up with some of our neighbors for the weekend. We sent up our tent and I fixed my bike and got registered for the race. Ruth and me decided to team up together and do it as a duo. Then to Ellicottville Brewery for some food and a few beers. Then we went back and everyone was hanging and looking for extra clothes because it felt more like April than July. A few storms and some rain came during the night. But our tent kept us nice and dry unlike Tim Heck's.

No matter how much time I plan on having before a race I seem to be running behind. So I decided to do the run for our team seeing how I got there late I got lined up near the back of the pack for the Le Mans start. Off we went I noticed that it's allot harder to pass people running than riding. Maybe that's because I'm a much worse runner than biker? But either way I was near the back by the time I got to my bike. I took off up the climb and started passing people. A little more than halfway up I could finally see the lead group. I was able to work my way up to them before the top of the climb. I was in a small group as we started into the double track. Then I knew the single track was coming soon and I got into it first. Pretty soon it was Evan, some dude in a Cannondale kit and me riding the single track together. At this point I was thinking it would be cool to be the first one back. I also knew that the course finished on a long downhill. So my only chance was to put some time on them before the downhill. It seemed like I could put a small gap on them on some of the short uphills but they would make it back up on the downhills. Then we came out onto a gravel road and it was just Evan and me. He got around me as we were heading to some rocky single track. At this point he just rode away from me in the rocks and I was trying not to get caught be anyone else. But it happened on the last section of the downhill I got caught and came in third.
Now it was Ruth's turn to head out and she came back with a really fast lap too. Then I had good second lap and started getting ready for number three. My third lap was OK I felt good but my arm was starting to get fatigued. So I started checking the results and seen we had a good lead on second place. It also looked like if Ruth kept her lap time close there would be time for me to do one more lap. After looking at our lead unless Ruth had a big problem there would be no need for another lap. With three minutes left Ruth was coming down the last hill and I stopped her, and told not to cross until it was over. We won the mixed team class. Now for the hard part packing up and driving home. www.heartrateup.com


Justin