Fort Custer

The evening after a race has a distinctive feel. I get home dirty: dried sweat on my face, dirt on my legs, maybe a scrap or a bruise or a bump here and there. Crawling out of the car after a (usually) long drive, my legs remind me how hard I've worked them. After a few groans and grunts, Mitch and I get the bikes and gear up the apartment stairs. Showers are the number one priority; then it's time to unpack our leftover food, put everything away, make some dinner and retire to the couch for the evening. If we do have to get up for something like small group, we float through the evening with a sense of tired euphoria.

And so went tonight. The race at Fort Custer was another great time, and rather successful, too. The weather was perfect...I might even be a little sunburned! For this race, I had to do two nine-mile laps. The first lap went all right, but I got abdominal cramps and fell behind within the first couple miles. They only lasted for a mile or so, I think, and even though I thought I was probably too far back to catch anyone from my class, I kicked it up a notch. About three miles into my second lap, I caught the racer in second place (there were only three of us, and Nichole was long gone!) and passed her in a tricky section called Granny's Garden. She passed me again a short while later and tried to pull away, but I kept her in my sights and overtook her when we got back into the woods. From there, I just put the hammer down and tried to stay ahead. I ended up finishing fifteen seconds before she rolled in, both of us exhausted but happy with the race.


On the podium, with our pint glasses!


Mitch did extremely well, too. He also finished second and was happy with his time. To his left and in fourth place is Rick, his friendly competitor.

Full results for our team are as follows:

Expert Men 40-49:
14th - Karl Grieve

Sport Men 19-29:
2nd - Mitch
11th - Brad Potter

Sport Men 30-34:
7th - Jake Pangle

Sport/Beginner Single Speed:
8th - Aaron Osburn

Sport Men 35-39:
13th - Rich Marr

Sport Women 29 and under:
1st - Nichole Baker
2nd - Me!

Beginner Women 15-29
4th - Nicole Daugherty


Here's part of the team at the end of the day. We all have a lot of fun together!