Road Apple Rally

Around 5:00 PM last Friday, I jumped in a car loaded with 3 mountain bikes and one ‘cross bike bound for Farmington, New Mexico. My traveling companions for the weekend were Dave, Randy and Cindy. We were all headed to Farmington to take part in the longest running mountain bike race in the world—the Road Apple Rally. The race start was fast. However, because I lined up late, I ended up in the middle of the 2nd group on the long dirt road start. I quickly managed to shake that group and pass plenty of riders being dropped by the 1st group but could not make the 1st group. I was floored but managed to find a rhythm and finish the 30 mile race with a solid 3rd in the Cat 1 20-24 class in 1:58. The course was fun. When my friend Dan-o alerted me to this race I knew it was worth going. He told me that Cameron described it to him as “high dessert pump track.” Cam was right. Hitting whoop-dee-dos for almost 2 hours straight at over 7000 feet is enough to make anyone’s head spin with sand-infused delight.

Dave managed 2nd in his sport class on a ‘cross bike after getting lost a few time and after a long hiatus from mountain bike racing. Cindy got third in her class. It was her 1st mountain bike race…excellent job, Cindy. Randy had a rough day, but managed to break in his new carbon fiber, Specialized 29er. Speaking of Randy’s bike: he let me cruise around on it. I must say it was nice. The highlight of the weekend came when I shook Ned Overend’s hand minutes after winning the race. What a class act guy.

The Road Apple was my last race with the Wheel. Heather and Dan and a whole slew of other guys have been very supportive and helpful and encouraging over the last five-ish years. So, a big thanks to Heather and Dan and everyone at the Wheel who taught me a lot and put up with my constant destruction of my race bike.

Up next is SWCCC Mountain Bike Championships in Phoenix. That’s this weekend. Unless something goes terribly wrong this weekend, the following weekend will be Collegiate Nationals in Truckee, CA. Then a weekend off to do something other than race. I’ll have raced 7 times in 4 weeks, so that will be nice. Then I will be headed to Boulder for Blue Sky Velo and Boulder Cup CX races. It will be my first CX race of the season; hopefully, it goes well. I will be joining Nob Hill Velo for the that race and many races to come.

Alright, sorry for the scatter-brained, typo-ridden posts lately. I’m pretty busy. Hopefully, I can make a legit post sometime soon.