Gnar Weasels
by Paul Simoes • July 14, 2023
Brownsville, VT
July 8, 2023
First race of the year and first race as a 55+ thank goodness because I feel like I fell off a cliff over the last year with my fitness, but what the hell I’m old now and falling apart, even likely starting to shrink for all I know. We had 9 in the Old Man Group but we started with the 45+ as well so our start group was about 25-30 riders.
And we are off! Surprisingly I got a fairly good start and ended up in the lead group on the tail end. But the heat and humidity would be the issue of the day and it rears its ugly head fairly quickly. About a third of the way up the climb of the day, I ping ponged off a couple greasy rocks that sent me off the trail. Super lucky that I would catch myself fairly quickly. I fell into a ditch thankfully I wasn’t going too fast and fell to the side of the trail or it could have been ugly, falling down a hill side for who knows how long. Somehow, I didn't even really lose my position but at the end of the day it would’ve not made a shit of a difference. About half or ⅔ the way up the first big climb it was clear the heat would control the pace and the first lap was somewhat a race pace and jockeying for position. By the second lap things were fairly broken up and time to just find a steady pace for another lap. At the end of the second lap I threw my gel wrap at Colin the race promoter like he asked and asked what position I was sitting in, third in my class. Starting together with the 45+ I had no idea what position I was running in, but truth be told it wouldn’t make any difference. After a couple laps in the heat it was time to just survive the third lap and keep your spot and finish this thing without going into a heat stroke or something.
Ended up finishing third, which I’m fairly happy with given that I went into this race without much focus just out to have some fun. Despite the heat, I was glad I raced to see some faces I haven’t seen in a while and take part in a great event in some of the best riding in New England! The Ascutney trails!!