My race day began at 11:30 with the little kid’s race that my youngest son Jacob participated in. They rode about a ½ mile section of the 2 mile loop near the main trail head. He thought it was pretty cool and enjoyed going down the 4 – 6” drop offs with his dad alongside holding him up and pushing when the training wheels got hung up. All the kids received a plaque and they all thought they were the bomb the rest of the day.
My race started around 12:30 in the sport class. I started off like I always do, until I found my pace. By the halfway point I had passed about 10 or so people and had only been passed by 2 guys. So I knew I was doing pretty well at this point. I kept waiting for my WSI teammate to come push me along, he started 40 seconds behind me but never caught up. I ended up getting pushed by somebody else the last 4 miles or so, until he made it by me when my calves cramped up a bit. I was able to somehow put together a pretty good sprint at the end and come in with a time of 55 minutes. I finished 15th out of 32 in 30-35 sport class. Anytime time I can get in the top 50% of my class I am a very happy man.
I got back to the start line 2 minutes before my oldest son Dilan took off for his race. He competed in the 10 and younger class which is one full 10 mile lap just like the big boys raced. I replaced my water bottle and took off again to follow my son around the course. This was only his second time at Yankee and he was pretty nervous about the whole thing. He ended up doing just fine though. He got to pass several of the older kids in the 11-14 class then we eventually caught up to and passed some of the beginners in the adult classes. He thought that was pretty cool. He fell a couple of times, had to take a couple of quick breathers and had to walk maybe 3 of the larger hills. Other than that he did quite well and I was very proud of what he accomplished. It will not be long before he is out doing me. He took 2nd place out of 6 riders with a time of 86 minutes.
Special thanks to Mike and Charles for the refreshments after the races. Hope to see everybody at the Stampede on Sunday.
~David Goff