It's That Time of Year Again

For the past few years Cheryl and I have been making the annual trip down to St. George for the first of the Intermountain Cup mountain bike racing series. That was this weekend. We woke up Friday morning in Salt Lake to this:


We packed up the bikes and made the quick 4 hour drive to St. George to warmer climes of no snow and sunshine.

I have been spending long hours this winter on the bike trainer in the basement and eating better and as a result I have lost almost 20 pounds since last race season. I have also made some improvements to the bike that shed some additional weight. I was ready!

Fast forward to race day. There were a total of 22 racers in my category, the biggest turnout that I can remember so of course this played with my nerves a little at the start line. Once the race started I just settled into my rhythm (I had decided beforehand to not go off the start line too fast) and quickly found myself in 4th place.






Here I am in 4th place. Notice my shiny new helmet too. That helped reduce overall weight too!


That's me coming down a rather technical section of the course. Cheryl said she was amazed at how fast everybody was going through this part.


This is right before the finish. You can see in the background the group of tents and cars.

To make a long story short, I held on to 4th place and beat my time from last year by a whopping 14 minutes! So apparently coming up with a training plan and eating healthier pays off, who knew?! As always, thanks to Cheryl for the support, the ever important water bottle hand off, and for taking pictures.


That's me, on the right.