Intown 411

Overcast skies led me to believe it was going to be cool and breezy during today's 30 mile off-road bike race at the state's most challenging course- i was wrong.

Right off the start, we hit 32 miles an hour on the beginning stretch- and uneven dirt road.  32 miles an hour!  The next two hours were spent pedalling through tight and twisty singletrack. 

It's a good feeling when you're bicycle is out on a bermed turn to the side of you, and your body is hanging over ground with nothing underneath it!  You can feel the knobs on the fat tires ripping into the tacky-dark dirt. 

7 miles of a 15 mile trail system were laid out as our race course.  We had four laps to complete, and it was getting warmer every time around.  The crowd assembled around the start/finish line was cheering loudly- and it was enough to pump me up and spit me back out onto the course with a little more "umph"!

Railing turns, catching air over mulitple roots, riding over wooden bridges that curve through the Malaluca trees and over black mud- it's easy to forget there's money on the line.  Riding my own race, I came into the finish knowing I had placed out of the money- but, with new memories with old friends.

We sat around straddling our bikes talking about the nuances and developments of the race(s) as they transpired.  It's always great to get different perspectives of what happened ahead, or, behind you on the race course.  We laughed, we gestured with our hands how we navigated through a particurlarly technical section, and we all congratulated each other.

Markham park is typically the most dangerous race course in Florida.  I say that having raced here for over 10 years, and most of those years required an ambulance to be there before the racing even started.  As the past few years have seen an incredibly positive presence of the National Mountain Bike Patrol- there has been less need for ambulances.  This sunday, a guy put his handlebar end through the skin in his thigh for a murder-movie-worthy shot, and- and ambulance was called.

Take it as a warning, or, as a challenge- Markham park is to be taken seriously.  Come on out, have some fun- and know your boundries!  It's January, and i had to unzip my summer jersey to cool down...