Lost Valley Race Report

Long day yesterday. I met up with Luke just before 7:30 and got everything loaded up to go. 15 minutes later the Red Wheel Element showed up and we hit the road. Once we get to Lost Valley and registered, Justin shows up wearing bright yellow crocs. WTF? I guess he got tired of being made fun of for wearing gay-ass Elton John glasses.

We had 5 Red Wheelers line up for the marathon class. Me, Pete, Zach and Luke were in a 31 man field. Jessica lined up with 2 other ladies. Someone whispered "go", and we took off like it was a cyclocross race, pacelining 22mph uphill on the gravel road. I went to pass a few guys in front of me, then realized it was Pete and Dan Furman and I had no business being in front of them. I started to slow down, then realized they were spun out on their singlespeeds, so I went ahead. The guys behind me were like sit, shit or get off the pot!

It took me about 2 laps to recover from those first ten minutes of hammering. I was climbing the big hill at the beginning of the 3rd lap when I realized the expert and sport classes were about to start. I decided to try and hold them off until after the first section of singletrack. I was just barely able to get to the double track before the expert class swarmed me. That effort caught up to me towards the end of the lap, when I could feel cramps coming on. I passed Janeen and she said was doing a second lap because no one told her the beginners race was over. Apparently no one had the balls to tell her to stop riding.

Pete and I both managed to get 5 laps(42 miles) in. That was only good for 18th and 19th places respectively. Jessica rode consistently doing all 4 of her laps in 50-51 minutes for second place. Luke and Zach rode much of the race together and got in 3 laps. Justin and Nick did the sport class and I was surprised Nick never caught me, but he decided not to go out for his third lap. The course was not good for singlespeeds, about 3 miles of singletrack and 5-6 miles of doubletrack/gravel roads.

Sonya and Celeste both did the womens sport class. Sonya won by 17 minutes over second place. By my count, her time was faster than 22 guys in the sport class. She probably would have been faster, but when she was passing dudes up she would put her hand on their lower back and give them a little boost. Then she'd ask if they needed water or a gel and told them to have a nice ride before she passed.

After the race, we stopped in Defiance for a bite to eat. Nick paid for all of us. Thanks again, Nick! Somehow I managed to miss a turn on the way home and instead of taking 94 all the way back we detoured to I-70. I'm a dumbass.

Of course, I have to say everyone who didn't go to this race is a fag, douche, and/or pussy. Rim Wrecker is next weekend, hopefully we can get a larger group together. Everybody who did race, post up your comments and pictures.