5/12/13-This was the Firebird 40 race, during the Eagle Outside Festival. I started it pretty confident, since I think I am better at longer rides. It was cool that Archie was there hanging out riding some with me, I appreciate it. When we were warming up, there were a couple of rain drops that made us think we might get rained out, but fortunately it cleared up by the time we raced. We had a controlled start, and after a couple of miles we got to where the single track began and the actual race would commence. Everyone was all bunched up at the beginning of it, but we spread out quickly. The announcer, who I have seen at most every race I’ve been to, recognized me and that I was an LTR Sports rider, which was totally cool too.
The single track was really fun, but there was one climb where most people were just getting off and walking up. Some of the pro guys were just grinding it out, but it was tough. There was some fast downhill, and a lot of it was on a bike path with some good climbs too. We kind of circled around and rode back on what we had just done, so there was a lot of flying by other people on the same trail.
It was really cool to be able to see my heart rate, distance, time, and tons of other stuff while I was riding. It helped me to know where I should use more energy. My final time for the 22-mile course was around 2 hours 11 minutes, which felt a lot shorter even than an 18-mile race I have done. I think I have improved immensely in almost a year now, and I had a ton of fun racing!
May 11 2013 marks the 2nd year of the Gunny Enduro.
