Velophilia

This is my first year trying Mountain Bike Short Track Racing at Portland International Raceway (PIR).

http://www.portlandracing.com/

I’ve wanted to try the race for three years now but something always got in the way, like my lack of a mountain bike for over 2 years. Sure, I could have raced it with a touring bike, but that means taking off a lot of hardware then putting it back on for bike-camping.

However, this year I have Team Slow. They inspire me to go faster, have fun, and wave pom-poms at my team mates.

I checked in and got my series race plate.

I pre-rode the course on a warm and dusty Monday evening to see what I was getting myself into.  Dirt, gravel, grass, trees, and berms, it didn’t seem all that different thank a cyclocross course. I knew I wouldn’t be fast, but I would rock the turns and anything considered “technical”.

After lining up with the Category 3 (19+ ages), I traded words of encouragement with my mates Rob and John. Let’s do this!

We were off, dust clouds forming, and pedals churning. My warm up paid off. Immediate bottle-neck at the first and second turns but the pack quickly spread out.  I rode confidently through the corners and passed a lot of riders.

As I got into the motor-cross section, Rob and I played a bit of leap frog as he passed me in a quick section but I passed him again on some turns. Next thing I know, John comes FLYING by on his ‘cross bike leaving Rob and me in the dust.

As I got into the second lap, I was feeling pretty good despite the dust inhalation.

Lap 2 wore on and my body started feeling it. My right shoulder started to give me a lot of grief for not being in shape to handle bumpy terrain so it ached like crazy. I had to slow down considerably to get it to relax so I was passed one last time by Rob and MANY others.

I stilled rocked all the turns, especially the second to last turn that had a deep groove from the prior motorcross racing, it was like a bob-sled turn! Every time I took it, there were several riders on the outside of the turn where it was smooth but a longer turn, so naturally I passed them as I leaned into the turn and got a little bit of a speedy whip out of it. It felt so good to pass SIX racers on one turn. SMILES GALORE.

Laps 4 and 5 were just getting my groove on. I was keeping a decent pace, passing, being passed, trying to stay ahead of the woman’s field that started later in our race.

After 5 laps, our race was done. I had enough power to get up the last bump to the finish line and get airborne. It was a good finish.

Just as I was coming off the course, the Single Speed race was about to begin.

Ed, Kristin, Ryan, and Beth rocked the course with a single cog. Audrey and I wandered the course to take pictures and cheer them on the best we could.

Watching my friends tackle this course on single speed bikes really inspires me to give it a try myself. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a great buy on Craigslist.

We stuck around to watch another race that Ben would be in with the Category 2 Men. They would be considerably faster and race a couple more laps than we did. They even had some railroad ties to ride over that our race didn’t.

Ben stuck in there and gave it his all.

I’m definitely going back for the rest of the series!
PIR Short Track Series: http://www.portlandracing.com/

More of my pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomascosauce/sets/72157626962379130/

Audrey’s pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48407514@N03/sets/72157626960105814/

Team Slow in Action Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1692997@N23/