So today I competed in and completed my first bike race. Actually, this is the first actual race of any kind I’ve ever been in.

This race was part of the MMBA Championship Points Series of races, although I got in too late in the season to have my points counted. Not that it would have mattered much anyway, considering where I placed.

The official results were quickly posted on the web:

http://dirtfeed.com/upload/files/2006MayberryXC.PDF

( it really is spelled Maybury, a lot of people misspell it, even the official timekeepers)

I was in the beginner’s men, 30-34, placing 15th out of 20 starts, although there were 3 DNFs. My friends Eric and Clay also rode, although Clay was in the Sport class.

Overall it was a great event, very well run. Free food and drinks and plenty of swag were on tap. They gave away a Gary Fisher Cake full suspension in a drawing, which I sadly did not win.

I was a little disappointed in my performance, I did plenty of preriding so I knew the course well. My endurance just was not there, I just haven’t been out riding on a regular basis enough to ride at full speed the whole way. They added a huge hill right at the beginning, and another right at the end which just killed me. After the first lap I started getting a bad stitch in the side which slowed me down. But still it was a lot of fun, and I definitely plan to race more next year.

I’m not sure when exactly this happened, because I did not notice it at the time, only after the race when Clay pointed it out. Guess those clip in pedals might be a good investment:

I later learned this is called a chain ring tatoo.

An amateur photographer covers a lot of the races and takes pictures of people as they come by a certain spot on the track. I’m still looking for myself, but I did find Eric’s shot out there:

Congratulations to proud new parents Amy and Jason! Andrew Rowan was born August 12th, and weighed in at 9 lbs 9 oz. Pictures are up here.

Celebrated in Berkley on Saturday, and then with the family on Sunday. The pix are online here.

Maybury is fairly conveniently located along my ridiculous commute home. Even accounting for the crazy construction on M14 and its many tributaries, it takes me at most 15 minutes out of the way.

The beginner class rides the course twice, so I made it a point to do that today. Averaged about 35 minutes a lap. I have no idea how that stacks up, probably not very well. The course has been getting busier every time I ride, this last time there was a group of at least a dozen spandex clad bike geeks starting in at the trailhead. I can only assume they were also prepping for the competition.

So far the bike is performing well, but not great, still breaking it in. I rode a solid frame for so long I think I’m taking a while to adapt to the front suspension – I ended up ratcheting up the firmness on my second lap and it seems to make a big difference. Maybe its the higher center of gravity from actually riding a frame appropriate to my height, but I still feel the new bike doesn’t quite handle as confidently as Sarah’s old Trek I’ve been riding for the last 2 years.

The heat in my car seems to have warped the spoke protector on the rear gears, so now I can’t properly shift into the lowest gear, a bit of an annoyance. Will have to get that fixed soon. Plus my bike is filthy, need to hit the was sometime this week or weekend. Another big problem of living in an apartment, no hose available.

Next planned ride is this Saturday, weather permitting.

Just an FYI for friends and family, don’t bother calling our home phone, we don’t even have the ringer on. Call our cell phones.

I had some good news recently, which happened to coincide with my birthday, so I decided to treat myself to a long overdue present – a new mountain bike. Originally had my eyes on a Trek 5500, but the bike store was out of my size. I ended up with this Specialized Rockhopper. In a way, I like this one better, the frame is all black, no color at all.

Aluminum frame, RockShox on the front fork, plus tricked out with bar ends for those steep uphill climbs and a basic trip computer for speed and distance calculations.

I am registered to race in the upcoming MMBA CPS race at Mayburry Park in Northville. This bike will surely help me dominate the beginners class!