12 Hours of Gears

Today (Saturday) I got to do one of my favorite races. For many, last weekend's race course was ideal. For me, today's course was my kind of course. Fun, fun, fun. Roller coaster downhills. Flowing. Old school trails. 12 Hours of New Fane, formerly known as 12 hours of Gears. The anticipated 6:00 showers held off, and the sun even made an appearance a few times.

Thanks to Brittany and her crew for putting on a great race! They did a great job.

Thanks to Kim for the bottle hand-up.

Congrats to Chris S. on getting first place in his first ever 6-hour race! And to Gabi for getting first place in the women's 6-hour!

Congrats to Anne and Coop on their wedding. Nothing like a little 6 hour race honeymoon the day after your wedding!

I feel like I have been run over by a truck. I haven't raced (or ridden!) for 3 hours at one time, much less on a mountain bike, since a long race last September! And having to take April off from working out didn't help my fitness either. I thought I was going to die on the hills on the last two laps. Also, I felt a constant sharp pain in my back for a while - I thought it was just back pain, but then was also kind of wondering if could be from an insect - it felt like there was an open safety pin in the waistband of my shorts sticking in my spine. When I got home, I saw a gigantic bug bite, absolutely huge. I wonder what got me, a giant spider? World's biggest mosquito? Hopefully not a tick. Itches like crazy. The "pin" felt like it was in there for a couple of laps.....

I can barely keep my eyes open, I'm going to have to finish this later after some sleep..... I hope some of you (Chris & Kim, DJ & Wendy, and more) enjoy Bike the Drive in the morning. I'm going to be asleep!