Winter Shart Tarck '26: Race Two?

That was a dismal three weeks.  Mebbe you don't know me, so allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Rich Dillen (some call me Dicky), and I've been eating, breathing, and living mountain bikes since the '90s.  My happy place is in the woods trying to pedal my bike in a hurried manner.  This is where I find true joy.

I don't really "train" with "data," but I'm very aware of the fact that being in Zones 4 and 5 is my joie de vivre, my Steve McQueen, my Ford vs Ferrari, my Top Gun.  The highest heart rate activity I did in the past three weeks was shoving my bike precariously forward through snow, or mebbe when I got a shot of adrenalin during an "oh shit" moment on a patch of ice.  I can admit that I let a little depression and darkness sneak into my brain, and apparently I let some food and beverage slip into my waistline. 

tl;dr I got fat and lazy.  Unmotivated.  Meh.

I've been outside on a bike every day since December 29th.  That's a lot of time spent standing in front of three different closets, a bunch of shelves, and a few drawers trying to figure out what to wear every day.  I'm kinda over it.  So when faced with a the concept of dragging my lethargic ass outta bed and getting dressed for thirty five minutes of sucking sub-freezing temperature air into my lungs, I had a hard time convincing myself to get in the car... which hasn't moved in three weeks... and apparently needs gas. 

I suited up entirely ready to ride before getting in the car; sleeveless base layer, windproof long sleeve base layer, wool base layer, thermal long sleeve jersey, sleeveless flannel shirt, wool socks, knee warmers, bibs, jorts, cotton tiny hat, nitrile gloves, Hot Hands, and one size too big summer gloves.

I wrote that all out just so you would have to suffer mentally reading it (or not) as much as I did picking it all out. 

Dropping the Debbie Downer vibe for a hot sec, at least when I got to Renaissance Park, the trails were entirely frozen.  Great news, since I brought my Aspen shod 32" bike.  No sliding around in the mud today.

The start.  I wasn't feeling it.  Instead of gunning for a top position into the woods, I settled for good enough.  Today is just a day to put in my time for a participation trophy.  I mighta started to have fun riding a mountain bike after a lap or two.  My only real issue is my braking fingers touching the aluminum lever (Shimano, why my XTR brakes no longer have crabon levers?  Oh, because they break...oh yeah).  They are past numb and well into throbbing and semi-useless as a functioning digit.  I use the flat sections of the course to drape my hands over the bar and wiggle my fingers.  I'd like to say it halped, but it didn't. 

photo cred: Pisgah Paparazzi

Also not halping things was Keith sticking to my back wheel like he was hot glued to it for dog knows how many laps.  We're going something close to 20mph on the gravel and pavement, so I it's gnawing at my brain knowing that he's saving energy that he'll no doubt throw at me on the final lap.  My heart rate is pegged trying to open up a gap anywhere (175 avg, 182 max for the day), but it's not working.

I drilled it with two laps to go.. and that only opened up my one second gap to four.  Worth it?

Sure.

One more hard effort going into the final lap, and I finally put enough space between us to feel like as long as I continued to ride myself into an early grave, I'd hold him off.

I slipped from last week's fifth place to sixth with one previous top five rider not in attendance, and two new interlopers in front of me.  At least I'm well on my way to my participation trophy.

And how 'bout this?

I got home, showered, and with no bike to wash off or clothes to hose out in the driveway, I was happy.  Genuinely happy.  Like walking around the house singing and full of warm feelings.

I'm almost ashamed to say it out loud, but I'm that simple.

I'm sad.

I go mountain biking.

I'm happy.

fin.

This weekend, thanks to two races in a row being postponed, we got a double header with racing on Saturday and Sunday.  Time to stalk the weather and make good choices.  I got a mud bike together if things get sloppy.  Fangers crisscrossed applesauced.