When we got back, I hung out with my friends, Sean, Porter, and Nathan until it was time to get on the trainer. When I was on the trainer, I thought about a lot of things. One was the switchbacks, and the other was the sky, which was a hue of dusty gray, so I was kinda expecting rain. After 20mins of spinning, it was time to line up. Seeing Dad behind me reminded me of good old times...
"3,"
"2,"
"1,"
"GOOOO!!!"
As the whistle blew, I pushed off the ground and began my way up the hill.
The beginning is mainly hills, so it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. To get the ball rolling there were some switchbacks that gave me some speed. As I rode through the trail, within the 3 mile mark, I came across the BIG switchbacks.
"WE'RE COMING!!!" Dad shouted to Megan.
VERY carefully, I went around the turns and twists of the switchbacks. Soon I began to gain some confidence every time I survived an intimidating turn. WHOOSH! I went down the last switchback with a relieved sigh.
Luckily, the rest of the ride was fast and paced. At the start of the 2nd lap, Dad took a cup of water from one of the Tailwind volunteers(without my approval!?!?!?!), and dumped it directly on my head. If you think that was unfortunate, there was much more to come. In the beginning, it began to rain, and cuz it was the beginning, the trail was hills, hills, hills! To make matters worse(as in W to the O to the R-S-T), I had dirt in my nose, eyes, and mouth(ACK!!!), plus I was beginning to hit "the wall", and the slippery mud was playin' with my gears. Against all odds, I was able to keep my rhythm with the Dad barkin' behind my back. So I told myself to push it to escape the depths of the barking Dad(which really helped, even when I felt sluggish).
When the BIG switchbacks came( and OMG I am STILL thinking about how lucky I was), I was REALLY freakin' out. Rain+Dirt=Mud, and Me+Bike+Mud+Scary Switchback= a perfect recipe for disaster! As I was coming down(Dad yelled to Megan again), I looked at the ground expecting(okay maybe not expecting, but 99% expecting.)to see slimy mud, greeting me before my dastardly fall. Instead, I saw partially wet ground(YES it wasn't completely dry, but I mean, it's a give or take), and when I got down to the bigger switchbacks it basically dry(YAY!), as I worked my way down the switchbacks, I ceased my breathing until I got through the danger zone. Soon I came down the last switchback, and a great relieved exhale escaped my lungs and I began to breathe again. I made it a goal to keep close to the time I got in my 1st lap, so I upped my pace an got into the zone.
Pretty soon I was a mile away from the finish(by the way, it stopped raining and the sun was coming out!Yay). As I turned a corner, I saw Sean walking his bike, which had plants and a stick stuck in the gears. I couldn't really think about what to say so I just gave a plain old "Hi." Out of curiosity, I wondered what happened, so I saved the question for after the race. After a while of hard riding, we came to the home stretch....and........................
.............FINISH!
A few minutes later Porter finished, and after I told him that Sean was still in the trail, we waited, talking to each other about some flaws we had in the trail.
When we saw an exhausted Sean come in we shouted and encourage him to make it to the finish. When he finished, he told me that he got scratched by thorns, fell and got stuff stuck in his gears. So...yea. Cuz the awards were being finalized, we had time to hang out. Out of nowhere, Sean looked at me and said,
"You have a camera on your bike, right?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Did you get me on video?"
"Yesssss..." I began to catch on to what he was asking.
"Does you make the videos?"
"Not exactly, my Dad makes the videos,"
"Sooo... Can you put me in the video?"
"Sure! I'll ask Dad to put you in the video."
"Awesome."
So Sean, if you are reading this, CONGRATS! Dad put you in the vid above.
Back to the race! I got 3rd place and my times were only thirty seconds apart.
The beginning is mainly hills, so it wasn't exactly my cup of tea. To get the ball rolling there were some switchbacks that gave me some speed. As I rode through the trail, within the 3 mile mark, I came across the BIG switchbacks.
"WE'RE COMING!!!" Dad shouted to Megan.
VERY carefully, I went around the turns and twists of the switchbacks. Soon I began to gain some confidence every time I survived an intimidating turn. WHOOSH! I went down the last switchback with a relieved sigh.
Luckily, the rest of the ride was fast and paced. At the start of the 2nd lap, Dad took a cup of water from one of the Tailwind volunteers(without my approval!?!?!?!), and dumped it directly on my head. If you think that was unfortunate, there was much more to come. In the beginning, it began to rain, and cuz it was the beginning, the trail was hills, hills, hills! To make matters worse(as in W to the O to the R-S-T), I had dirt in my nose, eyes, and mouth(ACK!!!), plus I was beginning to hit "the wall", and the slippery mud was playin' with my gears. Against all odds, I was able to keep my rhythm with the Dad barkin' behind my back. So I told myself to push it to escape the depths of the barking Dad(which really helped, even when I felt sluggish).
When the BIG switchbacks came( and OMG I am STILL thinking about how lucky I was), I was REALLY freakin' out. Rain+Dirt=Mud, and Me+Bike+Mud+Scary Switchback= a perfect recipe for disaster! As I was coming down(Dad yelled to Megan again), I looked at the ground expecting(okay maybe not expecting, but 99% expecting.)to see slimy mud, greeting me before my dastardly fall. Instead, I saw partially wet ground(YES it wasn't completely dry, but I mean, it's a give or take), and when I got down to the bigger switchbacks it basically dry(YAY!), as I worked my way down the switchbacks, I ceased my breathing until I got through the danger zone. Soon I came down the last switchback, and a great relieved exhale escaped my lungs and I began to breathe again. I made it a goal to keep close to the time I got in my 1st lap, so I upped my pace an got into the zone.
Pretty soon I was a mile away from the finish(by the way, it stopped raining and the sun was coming out!Yay). As I turned a corner, I saw Sean walking his bike, which had plants and a stick stuck in the gears. I couldn't really think about what to say so I just gave a plain old "Hi." Out of curiosity, I wondered what happened, so I saved the question for after the race. After a while of hard riding, we came to the home stretch....and........................
.............FINISH!
A few minutes later Porter finished, and after I told him that Sean was still in the trail, we waited, talking to each other about some flaws we had in the trail.
When we saw an exhausted Sean come in we shouted and encourage him to make it to the finish. When he finished, he told me that he got scratched by thorns, fell and got stuff stuck in his gears. So...yea. Cuz the awards were being finalized, we had time to hang out. Out of nowhere, Sean looked at me and said,
"You have a camera on your bike, right?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Did you get me on video?"
"Yesssss..." I began to catch on to what he was asking.
"Does you make the videos?"
"Not exactly, my Dad makes the videos,"
"Sooo... Can you put me in the video?"
"Sure! I'll ask Dad to put you in the video."
"Awesome."
So Sean, if you are reading this, CONGRATS! Dad put you in the vid above.
Back to the race! I got 3rd place and my times were only thirty seconds apart.
-Avery
No comments:
Post a Comment