Exodus
Spring Series XC Race |
Heath
Warren |
20th
February 2005 |
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See we can laugh
at ourselves! |
| It was a FREEZING day somewhere down south when we embarked upon our maiden XC race, for me it was the first ever and I was later to find out why I had never ridden XC before. |
| Stef and Phil had both done many cross country races in years gone by with Stef even ranking pretty high, as for me well it all looked a bit boring and.....well just a tad gay....sorry. Since the onslaught of marriages, mortgages, and the readiness of fast food Stef's body is no longer a Temple, more of a kebab house so it would be interesting to see how he faired.....Phil on the other hand is fit as a butchers dog and p**sing us all off with his twig like features (jealousy is so hard to hide). I had a great Xmas and I think that may have shown in my waistline, add that to the 6" travel bike with triple clamp forks and you can tell this was not going to be my finest hour. I made a big mistake a took the p*ss out of Phil's bike, it was a Base jump bike with a chain devise and a low seat...."what the f**k!"...I laughed, oh boy was I going to regrett that later! |
| RapidRacers is all about fun so we slipped on the lycra and set off for a practice lap, as with anything we do as a team it appeared to be pretty competitive even on the practice lap, or maybe that was just me struggling to keep up. Sure as eggs are eggs I got a puncture half way round....thank god as I was already knackered. The boys dutifully stayed with me while I repaired it, we motored on to the finish only to find that everyone in the Open category were on the start line ready to go...we rushed back to the van to make some last minute adjustments and rode back to the start only to see the entire field in the distance....oh well it was only a bit of fun. |
| We all stayed pretty much together until a third of the way round the first of three laps, I think Phil had got bored and stepped on the gas, Stef stayed in front of me for a while holding me up probably thinking he was doing me a favour....my lungs new otherwise.....every time I shouted "RIDER" to indicate I was coming through he just laughed at me...I followed him for a bit and then let him race off in to the distance....Stef said he was off to try and catch Phil but I had my doubts about that happening. |
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| That was the last I was going to see of either of the them for the remainder of the race as I was setting new records for the slowest, fatest, and most inappropriate bike. After my second lap I suddenly started to hear "RIDER" being bellowed at me from miles away....bog off I thought your miles away, oh my god how fast do these lycra kids go...within seconds they are overtaking me as if I've got my brakes stuck on full. Again and again I sufferred the embarrassment of having to pull over to let proper riders go by, this wasn't so bad as my lungs were doing their level best to break out of my throat in a bid for freedom.....one thought just kept ringing in my head the whole way round the course "people actually do this for fun?". I don't know what was more painful, the course or having to wear lycra all over. |
| One thing we all learned was that fitness does improve concentration, both Stef and I suffered from the wobbly just hanging on mode on a few sections, so maybe there is something in this fitness lark that could help us on the downhill circuit.....naaaaah. There was a pretty good 10 second downhill section that got pretty rutted up towards the end of the third lap, this was pretty good fun but not worth the 30 minute lung busting slog I can tell ya. |
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| Phil had powered on embarrassing a few riders that were fully kitted out with all the gear, he has no triple ring and is riding on a jump bike with a seat post that's too short. Stef tried in vain to catch Phil ending up seeing blurred vision before realising it was a hopeless task. |
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| Having endured pain at the highest level I was still to endure further embarrassment as the entire female elite category raced past me......well there's one good thing about racing XC......no sorry I can't think of one! Phil and Stef ended up quite happy with the days outing threatening to do it again.....please no more. |
So where did we all come.....none of your bloody business! It was good to see some of the team again before the DH season starts and showed some of us that we may have a bit of work to do on our fitness and diets.....Now what did I do with that turbo trainer? |