Happy birthday to me.

My idea of a good birthday is to race three races in two days and get top 20 in all three races. Not winning yet, but still good enough for me. For years my motto has been to race for the pure fun of racing. I never gave a crap about places. I just race for the fun of it. I like to sit in a tight pack of riders and go around corners fast. The more technical the course the better. When the race got argy bargy at the end, I would sit up happy to have finished on the same lap and not been dropped. Heck, I have to go to work in the morning. Why risk crashing? -- Now that my fitness is coming along, I am rethinking this motto. Time to start caring. Time to start sprinting.

Saturdays race was in Chantilly Virginia.Category 35+ 3/4 race. Another easy D course but with no hill. Just a whole boat load of wind. I've decided I needed a nice pair of race wheels to go along with my new Fuji SST 2.0 race bike. Happy Birthday to me. Lance Lacy was selling a nice pair of Sram S80 wheels. They are a very large profile rimed wheelset. 80mm large! He said they were fast. I've seen him make them go fast. I had to try them. People were looking at me a little strange trying such a big wheel on such a windy day. Heck, why out. You can handle them or you can't, right. I started the race extra cautious. After two laps I realized the wheel were going to be no problem at all. Because of the wind you were hanging on to the bike already. I did my normal playing in the race. To the front, to the back, off the front, smile, to the back, go back to the front. I do like my games. As the race entered the last laps I again stayed up front. I had to work a bit harder to stay there and didn't get the nice position coming out of the last corner I had hoped for. I sprinted to 17th place. Not bad. The wheels were fast. I bought them. :)

Sundays races were in Colombia Maryland. Back to back races. Can I do this? 25 mile category 3/4 race followed directly by a 21 mile category 4/5 race. The course is a 2.1 mile loop with a small climb right before the finish line. Somehow the weather has gone right back into fall again. I was dressed for a cylocross race, knee warmers, long sleeves, gloves. And windy again. Just sit in and conserve, conserve, conserve. This is going to be a long day. Of course I had to go to the front to play some. Too much fun not too. I had good position coming up the hill for the final sprint. The finish line is so far away. Oh boy i can't sprint for 300 meters. Fading, fading. Hey! I still got 7th place in the category 4's. Nice! $22.00! Really nice.

Second race, 4/5, watch out for crashes, watch out for gaps. Recover, recover, recover. Wow, not feeling bad at all. Ok lets go to the front to play. Lets go get this sprint thing going. Again going for good position. Got it. Remember the sprint is long, be patient. The hill ends almost 200 meters from the finish. Don't sprint up the hill, you won't last. Crap! You sprinted up the hill. Again faded before the line. Got 12th place. Still quite happy. Note to self-- you can't sprint for 300 meters yet.

Great B-day race weekend. 17th, 7th and 12th. Not bad. Better results are coming soon to a blog near you. Stay tuned. :)