CCCX #1: Schlachter

The rain helped create pretty good traction on this nice day down at
the old Fort Ord property, but there were a few mud puddles to help
get the sandy mud all over bike+rider. Drive trains were making
loud, painful noises all over the place.

The good news was that the
sun came out for us, and the day ended up really nice down there.
The bad news for Rich Davis and I was that we both ended up with
HUGE slices of Humble Pie. So much for me being in about the best
XC shape of my life... 18th/25 in Mens Sport 35-44...

During my first lap, I was doing OK, probaby a little better than
mid-pack, when mid-course, 2 guys crashed into each other and went
down right in front me, HARD. I mostly avoided the crash, but did
get a little tangled in my bike as I ran over one of the guys feet.
The other guy hopped up and asked "are you allright?" to the other
guy. When he didn't answer, the guy got on his bike and road off.
Nice. I repeated the question. The guy still didn't answer (just
wincing in pain and staring off in the other direction). I asked
him two more times if he wanted me to get help. Meanwhile people
are flying by us. He finally said "yeah, I think so." I hopped on
my bike and went off. Luckily, we weren't too far from the finish
line, and I told them as I was riding by to send someone for a rider
down. Later I found that they did indeed find him, and he ended up
getting treated by the EMTs - never heard how he was, and I hope he
was OK.

Back in the race, my biggest problem was my back - it was screaming
for the first two laps, and finally near the beginning of the third
lap, when I was contemplating pulling out of the whole damn race, I
finally pulled off and stretched for a few minutes, while what
seemed like loads of racers flew by. After that I was good to go
though - which was nice. I actually got a second wind in the 4th
lap, and passed a few folks that had passed me earlier.

My only hope is that only the hard-core hammerheads come out for
these early races...

-Schlachter
PS - Charles Price was there, and walked away with a 4th place
medal. Thank you to Allan for the cheers, and a few other folks
that cheered the TWW jersey...