Back in the Ripon College minivan again, returning from a long weekend trip to lovely Indiana. We just crossed the border from Illinois to Wisconsin, and, as usual, I’m full of joy to be back in my home state. There’s nothing like Chicago traffic and the wretched, rugged piece of desolate terrain known as the Illinois Tollway to give one an appreciation for their cheesehead roots. It’s been a long weekend, and I think the team is more than ready to be back on campus.
This weekends race was put on Butler College, and we competed in Cross Country at a the tiny city of North Vernon, and then we had short track in Indianapolis today (Sunday). The trip down on Friday was pretty brutal…traffic was as thick as maple syrup during dog-sledding season, and we didn’t get to our hotel until midnight Indiana time. This wouldn’t have been so bad if we didn’t have to drive an hour and a half to get to the race on Saturday. Ugh.
Morale was pretty low when we arrived at the mountain biking battleground, but we suited up, balmed our chamois, and saddled up. The race started out rather intensely, and I was excited to find the single-track to be paved with hard dirt, and the winds and turns all flowed together. At least they did for the first two miles until I careen into a rock and blew out the tube in my back tire. Brilliant. Not having a spare tube, I had no choice but to trek back to the start, which was a short walk because of the direct hiking trails. With my steed out of commission (no, I didn’t shoot it), I got to relax and watch my other comrades go through the course. Bryan suffered a similar fate as mine during his final lap, but he chose to walk the last two miles so that he’d have a recorded finish. Tiffany, on the other hand, took solid first place on the women’s B race, and Christa placed sixth. The lady’s definitely did the representing for the Redhawks this weekend!
Today's short track race was probably the most brutal competition I’ve done yet. If you remember short track from previous posts, it’s essentially an all out race around an off-road circuit for fifteen minutes, plus an additional two laps after time is up. This particular course was relatively short, but featured a significant climb along the side of a grassy slope. And because the course was short, it meant we had to do the hill a lot. We pre-rode the course to know what we were going to be dealing with, and I took a pretty hard fall going down a treacherous dirt descent, which gave me a some cool abrasions on my elbow and some scratches on my back from broken glass (a great thing to have a on a bike trail…). So knowing that this was going to be my undoing, I promptly fell at the exact same spot during the first lap of the actual competition, giving up a solid starting position. I’m not sure how I finished, but Bryan definitely lapped me, so not that well ;) I did fall one other time, but that was because I was taking a drink and I hit a hidden stump and went flying off my bike.
Tiffany out performed the competition again on the short track and took away second, and I think Christa got seventh. We stayed a little while longer to watch some of the upper echelons compete. It’s amazing how skilled some of the people are! It definitely gives me something to aspire towards. Well, the winner of men’s B’s (I race C) knelt down and gave forth a Technicolor yawn after his victory, which isn’t really a goal for me, but they were fierce ☺ The winner of the women’s A league lapped everyone on the field. Incredible!
And now we’re almost back, thank God. One more race next weekend, which will be bitter sweet. It’s been a good season, but I need some time for me, now, especially considering it’s my senior year! Sorry for the sporadic postings, but the past few weeks of school have been really challenging, and I’m finally getting caught back up.
All my love,
Jon
This weekends race was put on Butler College, and we competed in Cross Country at a the tiny city of North Vernon, and then we had short track in Indianapolis today (Sunday). The trip down on Friday was pretty brutal…traffic was as thick as maple syrup during dog-sledding season, and we didn’t get to our hotel until midnight Indiana time. This wouldn’t have been so bad if we didn’t have to drive an hour and a half to get to the race on Saturday. Ugh.
Morale was pretty low when we arrived at the mountain biking battleground, but we suited up, balmed our chamois, and saddled up. The race started out rather intensely, and I was excited to find the single-track to be paved with hard dirt, and the winds and turns all flowed together. At least they did for the first two miles until I careen into a rock and blew out the tube in my back tire. Brilliant. Not having a spare tube, I had no choice but to trek back to the start, which was a short walk because of the direct hiking trails. With my steed out of commission (no, I didn’t shoot it), I got to relax and watch my other comrades go through the course. Bryan suffered a similar fate as mine during his final lap, but he chose to walk the last two miles so that he’d have a recorded finish. Tiffany, on the other hand, took solid first place on the women’s B race, and Christa placed sixth. The lady’s definitely did the representing for the Redhawks this weekend!
Today's short track race was probably the most brutal competition I’ve done yet. If you remember short track from previous posts, it’s essentially an all out race around an off-road circuit for fifteen minutes, plus an additional two laps after time is up. This particular course was relatively short, but featured a significant climb along the side of a grassy slope. And because the course was short, it meant we had to do the hill a lot. We pre-rode the course to know what we were going to be dealing with, and I took a pretty hard fall going down a treacherous dirt descent, which gave me a some cool abrasions on my elbow and some scratches on my back from broken glass (a great thing to have a on a bike trail…). So knowing that this was going to be my undoing, I promptly fell at the exact same spot during the first lap of the actual competition, giving up a solid starting position. I’m not sure how I finished, but Bryan definitely lapped me, so not that well ;) I did fall one other time, but that was because I was taking a drink and I hit a hidden stump and went flying off my bike.
Tiffany out performed the competition again on the short track and took away second, and I think Christa got seventh. We stayed a little while longer to watch some of the upper echelons compete. It’s amazing how skilled some of the people are! It definitely gives me something to aspire towards. Well, the winner of men’s B’s (I race C) knelt down and gave forth a Technicolor yawn after his victory, which isn’t really a goal for me, but they were fierce ☺ The winner of the women’s A league lapped everyone on the field. Incredible!
And now we’re almost back, thank God. One more race next weekend, which will be bitter sweet. It’s been a good season, but I need some time for me, now, especially considering it’s my senior year! Sorry for the sporadic postings, but the past few weeks of school have been really challenging, and I’m finally getting caught back up.
All my love,
Jon
