So...some random memories of the Summer Solstice 24 HR MTB Relay Race that I didn't have the time, wherewithal, or smarts to include in the last post...
CptSydor pulled off a 47 minute lap...smokin fast!
Again, a big thank you to the Rock & Road Cycle Race Team for all of their help during the race!
Which one of these doesn't belong here....which one of these just isn't the same...
Ted and Neil at Apex Photography took some Awesome pictures...I have a bunch on order...but here are links to a couple of my favourites in the meantime...
Of course podium pics are every racers favourite.
Yeah I know...I'm getting self indulgent, honking my own horn...prideful even...sorry.
Lois warns me against getting too prideful too...
Or this guy....
OK, yes last dude is right...let's move on...
Some more esoteric memories of the race...
The high that comes with being so completely exhausted,
at 2 or 3 am, when the body is freezing but the exhausted mind, and the tired
body, put you in that warm comfortable dopiness, where you can't put two words
together, you can't find your food, or put order to the things you know you have
to do before you have to get back on the bike again...so you just sit and get
sorted out for 10 minutes or so...
The fireflies...popping out of the grass at night.
The eerie sounds of the bullfrogs, somewhere out on the
trails along the water, in the dead, dark of night...
The robins song at 4am...letting you know that dawn is
soon to come...(Duke alerted me to this during one of my dopey states I
mentioned above).
The joyful relief when you know you are done, and you
have given your all...followed by the uncertainty that comes days or even just hours later,
when you wonder if you could have done just a little bit more...so you look forward to next year....or even the next race...which just happens to be, tomorrow!!
Yes, tomorrow's race...the next of Dan of Substances XC Marathon series. Dan has dubbed it 'The Humbler'...which may be appropriate for me. I am still behind on my training (from my road crash a couple of blog posts back), and not in the shape I would like to be in by now, so some of my faster friends are even more faster than I, and some of my competitive friends are getting faster than me (Steve, Fig, Giant, Jaimie).
Many have asked how my hands are doing. The skin is almost completely healed, but the bone and soft tissue in the left hand is still stiff and swollen, and the hand gets tired and sore within an hour and a half on the bike. Oh well, soon it will be good...and I will be back on track. In time for the Eager Beaver 100 mile MTB race.
For now, tomorrow is the Humbler...race report to follow...
Stay posted!!
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