I managed to surprise myself last weekend when I realized that I could actually race 50 miles offroad and be competitive. I'm not really sure when it happened. Most of my training rides are 2 hours at the most. I guess after a certain point it's just about staying fuelled up and focused.
This was my first time riding the Hard Nox Trails, and while it was a great course, one lap was pretty tiring. The second lap had me seriously questioning my motives. The climbs were soul-crushing and there were enough roots to rattle your teeth out. I didn't know we had hills that big in Mississippi. With a Le Mans start, I lost track of how many people were ahead of me. I was surprised to learn at the 3/4 mark that I was in fourth. I pushed on trying to drop the guy in fifth, but eventually he passed me. Then, we both passed the guy in third, leaving me in fourth once more. I kept pedalling hard to hold my position.
In the end, first, second, and third times were ~4:00, 4:18, and 4:20 with me coming in at 4:22. The guy that got first seems to dominate every race he enters. It's a long shot, but I think I might be able to take him in the Clear Creek Challenge. I'll have the home-trail advantage; also, I've recently decided I haven't been pulling up on the pedals enough. Working on that for just the last few days seems to have helped a lot.
The bad news (maybe). My truck may or may not have blown a head gasket on the way home. The next day it smoked for a solid 30 seconds on start-up and was low on coolant. It ran fine today though. I just need to keep an eye on fluid levels and engine temp. I'll probably get it checked out next week.
