Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Razorback-Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda


Razorback Podium: Rob Lichenwalner (2nd); Harlon Price (1st); Harvey Minton (3rd)

Got back into town last night from Florida and 12 Hours of Razorback. It was a successful trip and race as I ended up in 5th place with 12 laps. I did same number of laps this year as last, however, my lap times were much faster by over 3 mins per lap or about 41 mins in total. I just missed the 11.5 hour cutoff to be able to do a 13th lap, which may have cost me a higher placing.

My laps times were very consistent and I was going nearly as fast as 1st and 2nd place racers at the end, and on my final laps was about 10 mins a lap faster than 3rd place guy. In fact, I missed the cutoff by just 2-3 minutes and was only 3-5 minutes behind the 3rd place guy (Harvey Minton). The 4th place guy made the cutoff but was so smoked, he did not even go out for a 13th lap. On my 11th and 12th laps I was picking up about 10 mins a lap on Harvey.

To add insult to injury, I gave away a bunch of time on my 12th lap with 3 crashes (only 1 on previous 11 laps) and by stopping briefly to help an injured rider (she was injured, cute and laying accross the trail, so what could I do but stop).

So, although I am happy with the 5th place result and my fitness, I missed a VERY GOOD opportunity to be on the podium (top 3).

On the way back, Ernie and I stopped in Wilkesboro, NC and rode the Dark Mtn. Trail System. It was some good stuff, with lots of climbing and some ripping descents.

All in all a good trip. Met some cool people AND got to do some riding with just shorts on...yeah!!!

Later,
BRD

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