Friday, August 1, 2008

Farewell MTB Short-Track...







Short-track #6. The last short-track race of the summer. Fooey. The world has just a little less color in it now. My lungs have just a little less dust in them. As part of the his year I participated in the craaazy wacky relay-race. I found myself part of a rag-tag team of ten misfits. The "Goonies" of mtb short-track racing, you might say. Well, I think maybe I was the only goonie... everybody else looked pretty cool and seemed to know what they were doing-- The "A-Team" of mtb short-track. Well then that would make me the Murdoch. I was constantly advised to "Keep pushing the pedals around and look for the people waving and shouting your name. You can do it!"

Wait... what am I talking about?

Seriously though the relay race was really fun. 10 riders on a team. You get one lap around the motocross track (thank goodness) going as hard as you can. As soon as you get into the relay zone, your team-mate takes off for their turn at making their lungs bleed. Whee! I have newfound respect for BMXers. Good grief-- I felt like my lungs were going to jump out through my throat and then explode.

The organizers gave away more Clif Shot Bloks that I thought even existed on the planet. Quick note about the raffle: Everyone was obviously there with hopes of snagging the Chris King wheelset. During every other drawing there was lots of chatter and noise from the crowd. Even when they gave away sets of Yakima racks (sweet!) there was still a background murmur. When the Chris King wheelset was announced as the next (and last) prize? You could have head a pin drop in the powdery dirt of the short-track.

In the end it was a fun 6 weeks. I think the series was even better this year than last (my first year racing short-track) so that's a good sign. Thanks to the folks of Portland Racing for putting on a good show and thanks to the volunteers for making the whole thing go.

On to cyclocross!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wouldn't you know it but the Chris King sales dept is dragging their butts now to get me my wheelset I won.

I'm not super-worried about it though, I'm stoked for 'cross anyway and a set of CK mtb wheels ain't gonna do me any good.

Peace.

-will