Hail to the Chief!

OMBC/Vultures Knob race #1. Big turnout and nice weather made for great start to my season. The best part was having the Chief line up next to me at the start line. We haven't started a race together in 12 years! The downhill start worked well in his favor. I was sitting about 5th in line going down the fireroad and all of a sudden the Chief scorched past us like we were all standing still! He was going at least 5 mph faster than the rest of us and was first into the woods. As soon as we hit the singletrack his gears jammed up, I'm sure he was relieved though because he hasn't been riding anyways.
The rest of my race went pretty well. I did, however, go too hard the first lap in my usual fashion. I really didn't know what to expect from my legs since it's been so long since I have raced. So I tried to stay with the younger experts as long as possible then settled into a more sustainable pace.
I knew I was the first Vet-Open the first two laps so I set it on auto pilot and just tried to keep it upright. Then with about 15 minutes of racing left I saw Lorson coming up fast. I didn't have any more speed so I just watched as he cruise on by me to take the win.











This photo pretty much sums up the day. That disgruntled look on my face is not because I didn't win, rather my stomach was really upset after the race. I almost hurled later that night. I think my body just needs to get acclimated to racing again, that kind of effort is a real shock to the system. As you can see, Lorson didn't seem to be too affected his efforts.