till I put my self through 90 minutes of hell and have my you-know-what handed to me AGAIN at the 13th Annual Bump and Grind in Birmingham. I have raced this race close to five times and I love it, but it is tough and the competition is even tougher. It always has a huge turnout with great people and is loads of fun. Last year I raced it by myself and still had a good time.
This year is going to be even better with a lot of the guys from the team being there. But this year will hurt a whole lot more than previous years. This year, for some unknown reason, I have decided to race the Sport class. That means doing the entire loop, a total of 17 miles. Now 17 miles isn't that bad when you aren't racing. But this will be the longest XC raace I have done. And to be honest, I ain't ready.
But I have a couple of other guys on the team that are racing Sport that are fresh out of the beginner rankings so I will have company in this sufferfest. I have always said I would move up to the Sport class when I won my first race. Well, last October, I did that, I won the 2006 Attack on Swayback. But If I were to take my time that race and and double it and match it gainst the Sport racers at the same race, I would have come around 11th out of 14 racers. That sucks.
But my philosophy is, I won't get any faster if I don't start racing faster. And the best way to start racing faster is to come in last. That will definitely set a fire under your tail.
So my goals this weekend are:
1. Don't come in last
2. 11 mph avergae speed
3. Don't crash
That's it, plain and simple.
