Sunday, September 3, 2017

Kingston Trophy Half Marathon 2017

3 day's out from the Kingston Trophy was given the medical green light to ride. Well, to ride but be smart.

With that and knowing I missed almost 2 weeks of riding any rocky trail around to be ready as per past years. I always try to ride a few times the trails I know of that are harder then will be in the race.  That being replaced with 4 days in the hospital with bruised ribs and lacerated Kidney followed by 2 and a half weeks of easy spinning.

The day's goal would simply be to finish and get a result. This was decided Saturday morning driving to the Farm. No thought was given the night before. All I did was trail work the day before. Then Friday night directed those camping to the camping area and sat by the bonfire drinking beer.

So on the way to the race as mentioned before the goal was simply to get a result. It was after arriving and while piddling around as it was really just a ride. I thought that just by simply finishing I might have a chance to pull of a top 2 for the overall.

After the start I treated it as the Kenyan's would call it...a training race. Just put in the ride, be smart, and don't do anything stupid. Leave the hammering and heroics till the 30th. With this in mind there really isn't much to write about for most of the day. It was after the technical on route 66 and the Burbrook hill and about a quarter into Pete's Loop section that I seemed to pick up the pace.

Not surprising as it is one of my favourite trails to play on...hey I love rock. Why I still run a retrogrouch bash guard. After clearing Pete's and gimping down the hill rode the rest of the way as hard as I could while being smart. Which worked till a momentary lapse before the left turn to the straight to the finish. Momentary lapse led to standing and try to go hard. Which was red flagged by a immediate pain from my left ribs. Nope.....just spin it in.

While good with it. It was harder then it should have been as for now need to race with a moto style Kidney Belt....hard to breath at times with it. Later was surprised to find out from Sherri running the timing that I had placed 3rd in Clyde. And may have nailed 1st over all.

What...may have nailed 1st overall in Clyde?

Well, that was true. So a unexpected 3rd for the day and nailing 1st overall for the year. Despite barely cleared to race 3 days prior.