The rest of the story

I had to wait a few days for pictures (Kim had the camera in Vegas) and times to be published before I posted a real report on Hurricane.

Thomas Monson likes to quote the old saying, "When the time for action has come, the time for preparation is passed."

And so it has.

About a week ago I decided to sell my motorcycle and get a different one. So Friday morning some guys from Brazil (who live in Park City) came over to have a look. They came first thing and I figured I'd drive down to Hurricane after they left. Well, they bought the bike, but didn't have the money in hand. So I waited while they went to the bank. They returned, payed, I signed the title, and they wanted it in the back of their truck. 500 lbs of bike is a lot to lift, so they decided to back the truck up to the grassy slope by the house to get the bike up closer to the tailgate. Additionally, they weren't very comfortable riding the bike, so I said I ride it up the grassy slope and down into the truck. Well, it had snowed a bit Thursday night and, to make a long story short, I slid out of the ice-slicked grassy hill and busted up the fairing, windshield, etc. Dumb.

I took them down to the shop and we ordered the parts for them, but then they decided it was a bad omen and they didn't want it anymore, and I felt bad for them (especially since I actually crashed it), and I gave them their money and now I have a broken-up bike and parts on order.

I was pretty upset with myself for doing something so dumb, and by now it was too late to leave for a pre-ride. So I went for a ride here in Draper, and did a climb that normally took me about 5:15 last summer, and it took me 5:45, so I knew I wasn't going very fast. I'd pretty much given up the idea of racing, but I had already packed so after waiting for the kids to get home from their various Friday activities and dinner, we left for Hurricane.

We arrived in Hurricane at about 2 am. Kim drove most of the way while I slept, so even after setting up the tents and making it a really late night (especially for an early sleeper like me), I felt quite good in the morning. We had a great time camping and apparently our late arrival had some benefits.

Friday evening had been a near-hurricane in Hurricane, and everyone I talked with who had pre-ridden the course hated it. Additionally, they couldn't sleep in the gale. We missed all that, had a great time camping, and the weather Saturday AM was great.

Based on previous years, I really didn't have high expectations for the course, especially after talking with the pre-riders, and it turned out fine. For pre-riding in gale-force winds, the course would have been miserable. Near the end there was about 8 minutes worth of riding near the end that was sandy, gravel, or super-rough downhill. That is probably all anyone could remember after Friday, but after the first lap I knew how short the gravel was and it became a "who cares?" sort of thing. The first half was actually kind of fun for racing, and the rough stuff is kinda...mountain biking.

I actually felt quite good and enjoyed the race a lot except that I was by myself the whole time. There was a rider behind me for a bit at the start of the 2nd lap that I thought was my class, but he must have been an expert. I passed one guy near the end of the same lap, as he started to explode. Apparently he DNF'd. I thought I was sort of mid-pack, and expected I might even catch a few riders on the last lap.

It wasn't even close.

The only time I saw on the board was the winning time of Chris Holley at about 15 minutes ahead of me. Considering I rode less than 2:30, that isn't just a loss, it's a slaughter. I was so disgusted I just went for a ride with Ian, then packed and left. It would be one thing to say, "well, I had a bad day, I'm really much faster than that" but, really, I felt fine...good even.

From Hurricane, Kim took most of the kids to visit family in Vegas, and Scott and I rode back with Reed.

Now that the times have been published, I see that my time was still better than any of the experts, so I really shouldn't feel too bad about it (I knew none had caught me, but wondered about the staging gap). It is rare that the last pro finisher beats the first expert.

Frankly, I knew my pre-season preparation wasn't great leading into this race, but it showed more than I expected. It is easy to talk relaxed, "Ah, training not going well, don't expect much, don't care about results, blah, blah, blah," but we always line up hoping to win, or at least ride a great race. Competition is motivating, and even if you know there are some good reasons, it is disappointing to not finish well.