Well, it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything to this site. Don't see much point of writing when I am not racing. The problem is that I did start racing on the road at the end of March, but just couldn't find the time or motivation to write for many reasons.
As with most years, this year I started racing at the Mingo Road Series, which is promoted by Don Mosites from Trek of Pittsburgh. Don, with the help of Gary Bywaters and many awesome volunteers, does a great job at putting on this race series. Pretty much each of the Mingo Races came down to a sprint, though, so I never did all that well with any of my individual finishes. Overall, I did finish the series in 3rd in the 40+ male category.
During Easter weekend, I did another road race, which was part of the WVMBA Road Series and started near Mount Morris, PA. The course was mostly flat for the first 13 miles or so, but then had a few big climbs on it, which did split thing up nicely for me. The race was about 50 miles long in total and I ended up riding about 30 of those miles alone on a solo break. I must admit that I do like when a road course is designed with a climber in mind. I ended-up winning the 40+ male category with a long, hard individual effort, but I enjoyed every minute of the suffering.
Now for the exiting news! My first MTB race of the season was the Cohutta 100, the first race of the NUE Series. This year I decided to do the Nue Series on a single speed MTB instead of a bike with gears, so I lined up this past Saturday with my new MTB ride and a single 32x19 gear. The race went well for me. Like the road race I did in Mount Morris a few weeks earlier, I ended up riding the majority of the race alone. Initially, fellow single speeders Gunnar Shogren, Chris McGill and Matt Ferrari were all with me in the beginning single track section, but on one of the first big climbs my legs felt like they really wanted to get moving, so I went to the front of the group. I notice around a bend that my move created a pretty big gap, so I just stayed on top of my gear and kept it rolling during the rest of the race. About 85 fairly lonely miles and a bazillion pedal strokes later, I ended-up finishing in first place with a finishing time of 7 hours and 20 minutes.
So, in a nut shell, this is my account of my early racing season so far. In the future, I will add more detail and color to my race postings and will definitely start up dating this blog after each race, since the season is now in full swing. Thanks for reading and Happy Trails! - Gerry
