rivals and friends...


a few months back chris redlack sent me an email asking me if I wanted to team up for the Paranormal 6 hour race just outside of Charlottesville, VA

those months passed and it was the Monday before the race and Chris invited me to save him from racing the six hours solo
after some thought about granogue and what would surve my soul best I checked with my wife for availability
sure I would miss some previously scheduled afternoon kids stuff... but it was fine
so I took Chris on the offer

through the course of the week there was the tuneing of the single speeds
the gathering of multiple pieces of cycling wear
and the charging and the checking of the lights

saturday afternoon arrived with n pre-race jitters
this was a low key event with no real weight on the consequences
on top of that... life was holding my main focus
I was lucky to throw my stuff in my bag with so much of a second glance

I arrived back from the kids' morning soccer games and started loading my stuff on the porch
the one pm departure arrived quickly and I did not want to be late
fifteen minutes after one and I was wondering what had happened to chris
by one thirty-six chris had arrived and we had my stuff loaded and we were on the road

headed out of town there was traffic on rock creek park
then once out of town there was worse than usual traffic on Interstate 66 headed west
there is usually traffic on I-66... but this was worse than usual

after our mandatory stop at Wendy's we started to realize that were were going to miss the start

sure enough... we arrived late
I rushed to register and grab numbers as chris pulled his bike off the car then throw on some shoes and a helmet
I put the number on his bike and chris chased the group that had left 20 minutes prior on what was a fast and furious 6.5 mile lap

we were late
but we were in Charlottesville Virginia for the new incarnation of the Paranormal, no longer held at Panorama Farms

without a watch on my wrist I am not sure of the lap times
but the laps were fast
which left little time for resting
chris returned from his first laps with little to say about the course other than it was twisty and turny

sure enough it was a tight twisty turning course
very much like the Panorama trails
very much like Lodi Farms

the course was filled with tight turns
ninety degree turns at the base of each climb
ninety degree turns at the end of each short fast descent

the course seemed like it was being run backwards
it was up the whole way
there was no place to rest
there was no place to recover
10 or 20 yards of double track mixed in the trail offered enough time to slow and get a squirt of water from the water bottle
but nothing more

things went pretty smoothly
the laps were too short to risk resting
so I was on time for each transition
we worked the mountain bike relay race in the classic time trial style
treating each lap as if it were the only lap
going out hard
finishing tired

I knew the halfway point of each lap
as that was the time when I had to remove my glasses and toss them in my back pocket

the race started at 4pm ending at 10pm
offering enough time to get in a few day laps to get an idea of the course
then race with the lights
the unfamiliar twisty course can be tough at night
this course demanded focus
the trails were fairly new
there were all sorts of shorty stumps just asking to endo a racer

after our fourth lap chris and I managed to get back into the race
we caught and passed the clydesdale duo teams in front of us

as things got later in the race I started with the math
I was not sure of our specific lap times
but I estimated that I would get in with enough time for chris to get another lap
that lap bordering on bringing chris in before the 10pm end time

I feared the worse
a fifth lap
sure... I was sending Chris out for his fifth
but four sounded good enough for me
yes... I bailed
I figured that the gain versus the loss factor was such that it benefited me not to go out a few minutes before the race end for that final lap

sure enough
chris pulled in another stellar lap of unknown time
there were four minutes for me to get on the course
I was already in street clothes with my gear packed
sort of weak
but... it would only change our overall standings
and... it would only make it more difficult for me to handle the tasks of the next day

after our drive home I was in bed a few minutes before three
and I went to bed dirty
the night was disrupted by my younger son climbiing into our bed
then by the alarm clock
we had to leave the house at 7am to get lisa to her running race
a race that we were excited to attend as support

it was tough getting the boys out of bed and ready
it was tough getting me out of bed and ready

I am still sore
it was a great race

maybe I will have more words on it
maybe I will have another glass of wine and go to bed
maybe I will play with some of these images

great job out there chris
I felt good on the bike
my body was worked
my body is worked

gwadzilla race report from lodi 2007

that collection of photos is funny
do not under estimate that rider
yes... he is a bit large to be a cyclist
but he is fast
not only is he fast
he is consistent... consistently fast
he can move
he can move fast for a long time
and technical... I need to ride with chris more often
I could do to be more technical

notice the time on the clock
four minutes to go before the end of the race
but I opt to stay at camp
I admit... chris showed that he had more under his belt than me on this day
I look forward to seeing thenumbers
who had the faster lap between us?
who had the faster average between us?
I know that he did an additional alp
when factoring things.... this piece of data trumps all