2008 Heritage Park race

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5-25-2008 Heritage Park

This time we were racing just outside Athens, Ga. These trails are very twisty, filled with roots, and pretty technical. In some places it almost seems like someone walked through the woods drunk with a chainsaw and happened to make a path. All in all, a great place to ride and an even better place to put the Fisher G2 handling through its paces.

The first real sign of summer was here and boy was it warm. Its hard to believe how temperatures in the eighties could feel so warm knowing that one hundred degree days are soon to come. Once we were in the woods the shade made for a very comfortable race.

This race would be a very fun one as my friend Z and I would get to race each other. For any one who does not know him he is from the Czech Republic, has a funny accent, loves his bike, and loves to win. I knew if I wanted the top spot I would have my work cut out for me.

The warm up didn’t last long as I was already hot as hell and sweating before I even got on my bike. So after a quick warm-up it was off to the start line. Soon it would be time to start and the race to the woods would be very important.

We were off. I found myself having a pretty bad start after fumbling around with my pedal. All I needed was a grease chainring mark on my leg and my helmet on backwards and this would have looked like my first race. With a quick recovery I raced towards the front and entered the woods in third behind Z, who was in first.

The first opportunity I found I went around second place and before too long Z and I had a considerable gap. I rode second behind Z for a little while until he had a mishap and fell between two trees where he managed to wedge his bike between them. After he pulled his bike free from the trees I jumped in front and led for a little bit.

Soon we reached the hardest climb of the race. We were still riding one and two at a solid pace when Z broke his chain. After he said he had a tool I continued on. I thought to myself this was not how I wanted to win but I sure as hell was not going to turn it down. I finished the first lap and remained steady. I was riding at a comfortable barely breathing hard and feeling great. This would soon come back to bite me.

I reached the same climb that claimed Z’s chain about halfway through the loop still feeling strong. For some reason I glanced back behind me and sure enough there was Z. He had fixed his chain and chased for a whole lap. It seemed as though the finish would be a little more eventful than I had thought.

Soon the pace picked up and I was flying through the woods with Z on my tail. I picked it up on the hills to open a tiny gap only to have it closed on the down hills. At the top of a hill the trail widened and Z attacked. I quickly answered and jumped on his wheel.

This proved to be the move of the race, as he would punch it up each hill while I remained close to his wheel. Right before the end I was caught behind lap traffic just long enough for Z to open a gap. I chased hard only to finish around two seconds back.

The Fisher crew cleaned up this weekend when Sam finished first in the pro class, Brandon finished third in the senior expert class and I rounded it out with a second in the single-speed class. I would also like to say thanks to Z for giving me one heck of a run for my money.