midlife

What an awesome race. Now that’s how I remember the Rhino Rally races from about 10 years ago – fewer roads and more trails. I have nothing exciting to report, just my experiences.

Saturday – Race day

Greg, Steve, Preston and I drove down on Friday afternoon, grabbed some dinner at the Pizza Factory, hung out at the sign-ups for a while and then headed back to the room around 8:30. We watched the Olympics and the news, and then it was lights out at 10:30.

While waiting for the start, I test started the bike a few times. The bike wanted to lurch forward while in gear, so I opted to start the bike in neutral. In the past, I have always started in gear and it has worked fine for me, so this new routine of starting and then kicking into gear slowed my start a little.

I got a decent start, probably top 25% around the turn, but was having difficulty seeing due to the large number of tear offs that I put on my goggles, so I had to back off a bit until I shed a couple of tear offs. For most of the first loop, it was a typical race for me - trying to settle into a rhythm while being passed and me passing an occasional racer.

A few miles from the end of loop 1; there was a rather large muddy section where a guy passed me – totally drenching me in mud. Thankfully, I had some tear offs remaining. A few miles before I pitted, I had passed a guy in my class, so I was hoping for a fast pit to keep my lead. Thanks to the most excellent Utah Desert Foxes pit crew, they had me fueled and ready to go before I could down my Goo and put on fresh goggles and gloves.

Loop 2
The Back Breaker section was not as bad as I remember in the past. Some sections, that in the past were loose sand, were now hard-packed. None the less, I did struggle through them and cherished all of the leg and back pain that they dished out.

After receiving my mark at the check point just before heading into the Sand Hollow section, my hand either cramped up or my throttle stuck open, causing me to perform a spectacular, but unintended 180 side wards loop-out that ended with me lying in the sand afterwards. I’m sure the rather large audience of check point workers appreciated the show.

After working my way up and over the ridge on the Sand Hollow section, I started to pass quite a few racers - most of them struggling on the technical downhill slick-rock sections. Things were pretty spread out for the last part of the race.

After I worked my way down off of the mountain, I saw only 3 other racers, 2 passing me and one that I passed. It started raining pretty hard for the last 10 miles, but I had enough tear offs left, that my vision wasn’t hindered too much. The last few miles were kind of slick from all of the rain.

This was the first race in a long time where I felt like I was racing most of the time, rather than just finishing, which made for a much more enjoyable race. I don’t know who was on the Team bike of 16t, but we must have passed each other at least 10 times.

I was told that I finished first of 4 in my class.

Monday morning – 2 days after race:
My leg and back muscles are so sore, it’s like I’m learning to walk again. It’s probably a good thing that I go to work much earlier than most of my co-workers, so only a few saw me delicately hobble from the parking lot to my desk this morning. While getting in the truck this morning, I had to use the passenger assist handle to pull myself into the cab.

The only injury to report is a tender quarter-sized bruise in a very fragile spot. To describe where the bruise is, imagine where a steering stabilizer would smack a tired old fart that was leaning a bit too far forward while pounding through some deep whoops. If I were 3 inches taller, I’m certain my race would have been over and the family jewels would be worthless. Some racers and course workers may have heard me when it happened.

Lessons learned during this race:

• On race day, avoid the JB’s breakfast buffet. Scratch that - avoid it any day.
• Bleed your clutch regularly
• 5 tear offs - max.
• When tired, be sure to lean back while pounding whoops
• When a hot-shot Novice passes you, leave navigation distance for when he crashes.
• When navigating up a short, but steep little hill that is littered with stalled bikes, someone will bounce into you, causing you to become litter.
• Don’t let anyone pass you in large mud puddles
• When picking a starting line position, don’t park next to bikes without kick-stands (already knew, but forgot)
• If you get winded while walking the start, change or resurrect your cardio training.
• I need to ride more often.