Racing Again!

By Geoff Drake

It's funny that I make my living in social media and writing but never seem to have the time to do a blog story. Anyway, I've been lucky enough to do a few events this year, so I thought it might be time for an update.

I'm racing mountain bikes again for the first time in three years. I've been third twice, mostly recently behind my former teammate, Steve Heaton; and Eric Squires. These guys are hella fast! I think I'm the series leader at this point, but since I'll miss the next two due to book signings, so much for that!

Meredith and I did the 64-mile version of the LKHC Mega-Enduro time trial, on the tandem. I kept promising her that it wouldn't rain, but of course it did, nonstop. But she was a trooper. I think we were third in that distance category, even though my awesome teammates (Mark, Nils and Jim) smoked our time and they were doing the 102-mile version! They set a record in 4:37.

And I was fourth at the CCCX road race March 4. Clark Foy went off the front early. I saw him go and went after him. I was half way across, by myself, when I looked back and decided the field was going to absorb us both. I was hurting, going straight into a headwind. But I should have dug deeper and kept going, because Clark stayed away and won solo!

I recovered for a lap, then just started attacking, because I hate field sprints. Eventually I got away with three others, including our former teammate, Russ, who eventually dropped back, and Kevin Susko, the eventual 55-plus winner. I decided I could take this small group in the sprint for second...wrong! I should have attacked on the last hill and tried to get away. Dennis Pederson did a great job in the race, helping monitor things at the front. He had won some events at the track just a day earlier.

Nonetheless, I guess fourth is okay (not third, as it appears in this picture), and I felt good. Fun to be racing again!

(Thanks Bill Bushnell for the tandem photo.)