2008 XTERRA Southeast Championship

There haven't been many posts lately, but that doesn't mean that our crew hasn't been racing.
We had a great showing in XTERRA Last Stand in May. Netting 3rd, 6th and 10th overall. Winning the M25-29 and M30-34 age groups and 2nd in the M35-39 AG.

Dean flew to AZ to race in the Deuces Wild XTERRA and represented the Midwest well. He finished 3rd overall again, and 2nd in his AG AGAIN! Geez, tough AG, bud.

The next XTERRA on the radar was the XTERRA SE Championship near Birmingham, AL. 4 of us raced it in '07 and it was a well run event. The bike course is f-a-s-t and the run course wickedly steep, both up and down. I did ok in '07, but a mis-firing bike kept me from my best race possible.

Ted and Cheryl were both signed up for the '08 version and had their travel planned. After waffling for a few weeks then deciding not to race, I did a 180 and booked a last minute ticket. This was definitely a trip with a purpose, fly down Saturday, race Sunday morning, fly back Sunday night. I finally arrived on Saturday at noon, after a 2 hour flight delay. When we got to the race site I realized that it was going to be another brutally hot and muggy race, just like last year. We went for a swim but didn't find relief. It was actually worse in the bathwater warm lake.

We put our bikes together and waited a bit longer for the temps to drop a few degrees before pre-riding, finally heading out around 5:00pm. I vaguely remembered the course, but there were a lot of tricky root and rock sections. Bike handling, not cardio, would be the speed limiter in the first 1/3 of the course. The 2nd 1/3 was a series of rocky climbs and false flats leading up to Blood Rock and the 3rd section. A rocky, filling rattling downhill section where fearlessness would be rewarded. Wipe out here and you'll slide across large sharp rocks. Road rash would be a blessing compared to the aftermath of falling here.

Ted and I were riding the 1st section when I hear a large crack and my rear wheel grinds to a halt. Crap! I look down, expecting a minor mechanical problem but what I saw was worse. My rear derailluer hanger had snapped in two. This is very very bad and it was multiplied by the fact that I didn't have a replacement. I just flew to AL, registered for the race, and now I can't race?!?!?! We disassemble it so I can walk the bike out and Ted gets the car. It is now 6:00pm, the race village had vacated for the night., and Ted was talking about turning my beautiful Alma into a single speed. This can't be happening! I tried a last ditch effort and called Cahaba Cycles, which was near the park. They closed at 6:00pm, but after hearing my situation they offered to see what they could do for me. They were an Orbea dealer, but they only stocked Orca road bikes and the chance of having the part I needed was slim.

The shop owner took my bike into the back and I waited like a nervous father in a hospital waiting for a prognosis. They only had one bike that was available to rent, a full squish Gary Fisher High-Fi that was a size too big. Please, please, please let my bike pull through. I hear some rattling and wrenching in back but no indication of success. I'm pacing around shop when he finally comes out with the news. Miraculously the hanger from an Orca road bike fit on my Alma!!! I had to restrain myself from shouting my relief. Not only did he fix it, he re-tuned it and it ran like a fine swiss watch. If you're ever in the southeast Cahaba cycles is the place to go!

Fast forward to race day (this is taking way too long) :-) Roughly 200 people line up at the waters edge and the cannon sounds. We all head into the bathtub for our first of 2 laps. My first lap was about as fast (slow?) as I expected and I went out for lap two. I finish, transition and then hit the bike course at 32:51. Ouch. I get a bit anxious in the early sections, understeer a corner, ram my wheel into a tree stump step up, stop dead in my tracks and someone runs into me. Sorry bud! I get back on and try to settle in. The bike shifting is crisp and I pace with a couple other riders. As soon as we hit the climb my carbon hardtail Alma shines and I quickly drop everyone in sight and crack a smile. From here on out I'm flying blind, I rode here last year and that is the extent of my course knowledge. I'm forced to dismount and run down blood rock, but I ride the rest of the rocky downhill section aggressively and finally head back to transition. Bike: 1:19:04. A six minute improvement over '07.

I nailed the difficult run last year and was trying to match my time this year. Long story short (I ran up hill and I tried to keep my feet in front of me on the downhills)x6. The first 35 minutes of the run was tough, but the last 10 was real suffering. I alwasy know that I'm pushing my limits when the thoughts of "Why am I doing this!?! This isn't fun, this is torture!!" start creeping into my head and I decide to start playing video games instead of racing. Several time my eyes played tricks on me when I would see a 25 on another racers calf, which was motivating at first and then a relief to find it actually a 50 or 35. I exit the forest and head back to the race village. I'm glad that there are no threatening pursuers, but also I bit dejected that I only passed 1 25-29 racer. I finish and head for the rain tent. Run 46:30.

Total time: 2:38:25

After mustering the strength and nerve I get my 'stat' card to see how I stacked up. The top 2 guy in my AG qualify to race in Maui Hawaii at the XTERRA World Chamipionship. I find my AG results and see I finished 3rd. I had mixed emotions. Obviously I was disappointed to miss my qualifying spot by 1, but I had met another goal of finishing 3rd or higher to score 82 series points.

Congrats to Cheryl Stine, winner her AG and qualifying for Maui for her 2nd consecutive year!
Best of luck next weekend to Ted and Cheryl in Richmond at the XTERRA East Championship. Who knows, maybe I'll book another last minute ticket to race again this weekend :-)

Signing off.
Tim