ryan r roth and his photographs

It happened like this.

To be honest, from Tuesday when I found out about the race all the way to Sunday morning I had some serious trouble sleeping. I couldn’t take a nap without thinking of the race, and I couldn’t take a ride because I had midterms that l considered far more important. A nasty catch-22, but somehow I get myself into the damnedest of situations. On Friday night, my buddy Pat reminded me of the time a random guy at 24-hour fitness challenged me to a mountain bike race (he didn’t show). We laughed about my nervousness and more so about my propensity to end up in the oddest of endurance challenges.

The race would be from Lyons to Boulder, and naturally on Friday I found myself attempting the first ride of the year on the course route. A doozy 10.7 miles - hilly for the first half and then a slight incline to the finish. I made it, but that was never really a question in my mind. The question was, how fast? There was a decent headwind so I didn’t quite know if I could compare my time or not, but I was definitely slower than I would have liked.

I showed up a half hour before the race and popped on the bike for a brief warm up. I got a few miles in, stretched and felt as ready as I’d ever be. I rolled on over to meet MIchael and his parents. Yep, that was a bit awkward. “Hi, I’m the 26 year-old who challenged your 12 year-old son to a bike race.”

His parents were downright cool and we chatted a bit - mostly about my qualifications for such a hare brained adventure - since it was very clear that I’ve won approximately zero national championships. His dad, Professor Dan Dessau pointed out Michael had a bit of an equipment advantage. Sure enough, I looked a little closer and saw that he had aerobars, a racing helmet, and covered rear wheel. Hmmm.

The race started without much commotion. Michael sprinted off, and I hopped on his tail. We settled on a nice smooth pace through the hills. There was zero passing, both of us were simply pedaling away, sucking down the cool mountain air.

We exited the hills together and Michael began to pull away. Simple as that. I couldn’t cut the headwind nearly as well as him. I kept him in my sights the entire way, but in the end - I LOST. 

I couldn’t help but laugh as I crossed the finish line 37.9 seconds later. I was greeted by Kristen, Professor Franklin, my buddy Nick and his friends, and of course Michael and his parents. I think Nick was in awe, not quite digesting the fact that I had lost the race. Soon thereafter he was indeed laughing. And believe me, many people got their laughs in on Monday afternoon as my noble effort was announced in front my physics class on Monday. All I could do was sit there and shake my head. 

Filed by ryanroth at April 23rd, 2008 under Endurants, General Radness, Life, Mowntins, Young & Hip