Tuesday night racing wasn't even suppose to happen for me this week. I have my grand kids in town (that's right I said grand kids) hard to believe, but it is so.
And my grandson who races BMX in Las Vegas wanted to see me race. He is 10 and still has my last motocross sponsor collage on his wall from 2006. That was the last year I raced motocross on any level. I was still pretty heavily sponsored, and they always put together a racer profile and stats 30"x22" poster for there riders.
Anyways, I am the cool grandpa to him. And it is nice to have him look up to me as a mini super hero.
So I wasn't suppose to race, but he wanted to check it and I am all for racing. So this put the green light back on. I had spoke to Patrick via text and knew he wouldn't make it tonight as he is very close to a TRI race coming up and doesn't want to counter act his pre set training. No worries, I heard the wonder kid last week say he would be out for sure this Tuesday after he finally got his feet wet last week. Of course I couldn't get him to commit to a weekend race though on Sunday.
Not to my surprise he no showed. Then comments how he can't get over this cold, but neglects to realize he has made comments about going surfing and playing beach volley ball until sunset.
Now if I sound like I'm bitching, YOUR F-ING RIGHT. I over this one. My only comment from this time forward will be "NEXT". I'll try and find some other young bucks that want to learn the sport.
I can't make anyone motivate themselves, especially when there not even trying to test themselves.
It's easy to hide and quit when you get your ass handed to you. I tell everyone in the beginning, "you will likely fail at first, don't get discouraged, learn from what went wrong and don't do that again".
O.k. my rant on that is over (sorry).
We had a larger group finally show up again, plus 20 riders on a Tuesday night, hell yes! Several new riders from teams I see at the larger races were there. It was cool and at first a little intimidating. Knowing that it would be a faster pace than usual with some people you are not all to familiar with racing. Also the what has become regular crowd showed up.
I didn't even attempt to contend for the first prime sprint as I was still trying to figure out how my fitness and legs were going to be for the night. Being this would be my 4th race in 7 days plus training rides, I was kind of skeptical. With that said I road hard to the sprint line letting anyone jump that wanted to and then just regrouped and recovered. I was stoked, literally no fatigue, and I recovered in less than 1/2 a lap.
So when the bell was rung for the 2nd and final prime, I told myself you are fine, strong and have a good shot tonight. I stayed about 6-7 wheel through the last turn, popped out of the right side at about 25 meters and ended up photo finish for 3rd.
I'll take it, and it was damn close on the line.
The group stayed focused and fairly fast all night.
This had to be mid to the end of the race and everyone looked pretty fresh still.
The guy in the yellow and I have got to know each other pretty well. He races cat 4/5 and 30+ 4/5. He is strong, fast and always contends for top spots. He about lost himself after Sunday's first race when he found out I am on the down side to 46 years old.
We had made a plan to take a flyer off the front with 1.5 laps to go, but he ended up rotating to the back and got boxed in.
It was to be myself, him, the guy in blue to the right and two Long Beach State guys. Unfortunately it got very disorganized towards the end, and some other little stupid attacks came.
To the point where I was in constant over the shoulder look out mode for seeing when the next attack would come. These guys actually did a lot of work out there tonight, but in the end I don't know where they finished.
I stayed focused and just kept on the look out. I let whoever wanted to lead out, lead out. I had a super strong pull to the line behind ? I don't know ? But I ended up coming to the line again very wheel to wheel and finished 4th I think but they have me as 5th, so I'll except the 5th.
All said it was a great race. I was stoke how good I felt and that my recovery was a non issue, It was warm out and we had a great showing of racers. My grandson was happy he went and I'm still on top of his list !
Thanks for reading.
Train hard,train smart, be active.
And my grandson who races BMX in Las Vegas wanted to see me race. He is 10 and still has my last motocross sponsor collage on his wall from 2006. That was the last year I raced motocross on any level. I was still pretty heavily sponsored, and they always put together a racer profile and stats 30"x22" poster for there riders.
Anyways, I am the cool grandpa to him. And it is nice to have him look up to me as a mini super hero.
So I wasn't suppose to race, but he wanted to check it and I am all for racing. So this put the green light back on. I had spoke to Patrick via text and knew he wouldn't make it tonight as he is very close to a TRI race coming up and doesn't want to counter act his pre set training. No worries, I heard the wonder kid last week say he would be out for sure this Tuesday after he finally got his feet wet last week. Of course I couldn't get him to commit to a weekend race though on Sunday.
Not to my surprise he no showed. Then comments how he can't get over this cold, but neglects to realize he has made comments about going surfing and playing beach volley ball until sunset.
Now if I sound like I'm bitching, YOUR F-ING RIGHT. I over this one. My only comment from this time forward will be "NEXT". I'll try and find some other young bucks that want to learn the sport.
I can't make anyone motivate themselves, especially when there not even trying to test themselves.
It's easy to hide and quit when you get your ass handed to you. I tell everyone in the beginning, "you will likely fail at first, don't get discouraged, learn from what went wrong and don't do that again".
O.k. my rant on that is over (sorry).
We had a larger group finally show up again, plus 20 riders on a Tuesday night, hell yes! Several new riders from teams I see at the larger races were there. It was cool and at first a little intimidating. Knowing that it would be a faster pace than usual with some people you are not all to familiar with racing. Also the what has become regular crowd showed up.
I didn't even attempt to contend for the first prime sprint as I was still trying to figure out how my fitness and legs were going to be for the night. Being this would be my 4th race in 7 days plus training rides, I was kind of skeptical. With that said I road hard to the sprint line letting anyone jump that wanted to and then just regrouped and recovered. I was stoked, literally no fatigue, and I recovered in less than 1/2 a lap.
So when the bell was rung for the 2nd and final prime, I told myself you are fine, strong and have a good shot tonight. I stayed about 6-7 wheel through the last turn, popped out of the right side at about 25 meters and ended up photo finish for 3rd.
I'll take it, and it was damn close on the line.
The group stayed focused and fairly fast all night.
This had to be mid to the end of the race and everyone looked pretty fresh still.
We had made a plan to take a flyer off the front with 1.5 laps to go, but he ended up rotating to the back and got boxed in.
It was to be myself, him, the guy in blue to the right and two Long Beach State guys. Unfortunately it got very disorganized towards the end, and some other little stupid attacks came.
I stayed focused and just kept on the look out. I let whoever wanted to lead out, lead out. I had a super strong pull to the line behind ? I don't know ? But I ended up coming to the line again very wheel to wheel and finished 4th I think but they have me as 5th, so I'll except the 5th.
All said it was a great race. I was stoke how good I felt and that my recovery was a non issue, It was warm out and we had a great showing of racers. My grandson was happy he went and I'm still on top of his list !
Thanks for reading.
Train hard,train smart, be active.
Very cool grandpa indeed!!!
ReplyDelete. . . ."easy like a summer . . .evening?"
ReplyDeleteSo it goes without saying that Outspoke-n is off to a good start as a result of Craig and I hope to follow that up with some strong triathlon results. That said, we need team members, any one in the area? Get in touch!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the 5th! That's great that you're recovering well enough to race this often. You've clearly got your routine and nutrition dialed in. As for that young gun, I think "next" is the right approach. Don't waste your time.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! You're really cruising up the standings. Bet your grandson had a blast watching you.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Grandpa! ::grins::
ReplyDeleteSo, please talk tires to me. Should I not go ahead and order another Gatorskin for the front to match the back?