Fat Tire Frenzy Race Report

Saturday marked the 2nd race in the VA Derailer Series. This race is held at Falling Creek Park in Bedford, VA. We couldn’t have asked for a better day for racing. Light breezes, sunny skies and temps in the low 70’s.
We arrived at the parking lot to find more cars than usual. We met up w/ the clan from Team El Toreo, registered, changed, warmed up. Etc. When we lined up for the start, they decided to start all of the sport class w/ the single speeders. I was the lone chicky single speeder again. I joked w/ the guys that the smell of testosterone was overwhelming. I decided to start behind the sport guys b/c I knew I could not hang w/ all the geared dudes on the grassy, slight uphill start. As we dumped into the woods it became a bit of a cluster b/c there are a couple of sections which are steep causing riders to dismount. Conditions were slightly muddy but it was the type of mud that makes you slide everywhere…sort of like peanut butter.
As we continued in the woods, I caught up to 2 Vet Sport men. One let me by but.when I got behind the other, he was just piddling. I asked if I could pass….he responded by speeding up to pull away from me. Must be something about the male ego & not wanting to be beat by a girl! We dumped out onto a gravel fireroad. This was slightly uphill but nothing major. I decided to pull up alongside the dude who wouldn’t let me pass to see if I could get a reaction. I did not utter a word..just pulled up slightly ahead of him and kept a steady pace.….sure enough..he took off again. I love playing mind games w/ some of the men b/c their egos just can’t handle a chicky riding stronger than them.

We twisted and turned down through the woods, up & over a couple of logs (I chickened out so I hopped off the bike to get over these), more woods, creeks, switchbacks. Climbs. At one point we climbed up a trail which dumped out into a fast, fun downhill section. The other Vet Sport who I passed caught to me up before the downhill. I let him go ahead of me since he had gears & was about 50 pounds heavier than me. I didn’t want that following me down the hill. We then rode through another field, then back into the woods for more twists, turns, climbs, creek crossings.. At one point there was a nasty, muddy creek crossing. I caught up to the first vet sport who had sped off. He looked like he was slowing so I took advantage of an opportunity to pass him in the muddy creek.
I did not see him the rest of the race so I’m not sure if he had a mechanical issue or what. He seemed to be riding strong up until this point.

My second lap was a bit slower than the first lap. My legs tired & I walked many of the uphills. I came in right at 2 hours…a little slower than I had hoped but it’s all good. At the end of the race I went back down to the start/ finish to catch the end of the female sport race. My buddy Jen was flying down the hill w/ another chicky friend, Gina. Everyone was screaming and cheering..telling Jen to pedal & telling Gina to catch her!. Jen won by a mere 4 seconds. It was quite a finish.

Team Taco had a decent showing this race:

Me – 1st place (and last J ) female Single Speed
Hubby – 2nd Place Male Singlespeed
Jen -1st place women sport
Yenski -1st place male expert 36 -49
Adam (adopted team member) – 1st place Clydesdale.

Next up: Burn 24 hour race….yup..24 hour race!