Vanport Kermesse
January 24th, 2008 at 1:05 am (Biking)
It was a cold day… The early morning sky was gray, and frozen ground crunched beneath feet. It was the start of the bike racing season!
We showed up at Portland International Raceway last Sunday for the first race of the year, a Kermesse. It was a 45 minute race of about 16 miles (for me), around what seemed to be the maintenance roads of the car-racing course. It also included about 1/3 mile of cyclocrossesque gravel, which was, to say the least, abundant in potholes.
Besides an eleven-year-old, I was the only one racing in my category. Luckily(?) though, they let us start with the 35+ B Masters. So I set my mind to staying with them as long as I could.
At first I was thinking, “They’re only going 20mph… I can keep up with these guys!”. Then we came to the gravel, where they… didn’t slow down. A few miles later, we came to a long gradual hill, on which they also refused to go under 20mph. But I somehow stuck with them for the rest of that lap, and then another lap after that. However, by the time we came to that hill the second time, the last of my sprinting muscles had been spread over the road like butter, with nothing left for me to catch up. But before I dropped 4mph due to the lack of pull, I checked my average speed: 20mph.
I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but I’m happy with myself for hanging with the B Masters for two laps, considering I hadn’t ridden a bike in two months. I can’t wait till the next race — hopefully there will be… people!
EXTRA: Check out the winner’s prize: possibly The World’s Worst Trophy.
