Race season begins

I haven't posted in a few months, for a few different reasons. Earlier this year, there were two local fatal bike crashes, one of which happened a few miles away, within sight of one of my training loops. I also was focusing on the Flying Pig Half Marathon, two weeks ago, and my final semester of Grad School.

Today was the first bike race of the season for me, the Midwest Time Trial series. Being held in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it was a good 2 hour drive each way to the event, but was worth it. I took "Glowie" for this one, and entered the Fixie category. I came in 6th place, out of 6, in what tied for the largest Fixie field in the series's history. 1st and 3rd in the category were separated by less than 40 seconds, though I was a good 15 minutes slower than the winner.

It was a good ride, for the most part. Outbound, I was averaging around 19 MPH, but there was a price in that. The turnaround put me into one of the worst headwinds I have ever seen. I fought to stay about 13 MPH for the return 6 miles, and I averaged about 16 overall.

I actually had parked next to one of the other Fixie riders, and a few spots from a third one. It made for some interesting conversation, I believe I may have had the only Steel fixie there, though I am not sure I would trust an Aluminum frame for fixed gear riding.

After the race, I stopped at the McDonald's in Van Wert, Ohio. I was sitting there eating lunch when a familiar face stopped and said hi. It was one of the top-3 finishers from the Fixie division, and we talked for a few minutes until a third rider from the division walked in. Half an hour from the race location, and 3 of the 6 riders in the division happened to be in the same McDonald's at the same time. (While the TV in Mcdonald's was playing a bike race from California!)

I really enjoyed myself today, I really felt like I was in my element. For me, that is incredibly rare, and for those that really know me, to think I could be in a large group of people and be completely at ease and talking to any of them at random is an almost mind boggling thing.

The TT series still has 3 races for this year, and there is another TT that I plan on hitting in 2 or 3 weeks. (Its on a weekday, and there is another Midwest TT the following Sunday.) I will probably ride Fixed on that one as well, and I will finish the Midwest series on the Fixed, so I can earn all my points in the same division.