Mt Tabor Series - Race #3

Going into the final lap

It was a beautiful Wednesday evening for racing at Portland's Mt Tabor. The format of the race and description is listed in my previous post (Fixed Gear, 4 laps, up and down the mountain). To spice my post up a bit, I wrote a little Haiku to try to describe what the race was all about...

Race Tabor Fixed

Mash up, spin down, can't shift

or breathe

The race itself went great. I tried out a new gear combination (42 x15 vs. 42 x17 from 2 weeks ago). I was a bit nervous about the bigger gear, but it paid off. The bigger gear was definately harder on the climbs, but allowed me to sail down the downhills with out nearly as much 'out of control' spinning. At one point I noted my speed on the computer at 36MPH (which is a pretty fast rate on a fixed gear). In addition, I have been working on my form a bit and decended in my drops (I am more comfortable on the hoods). This made me a bit more aero and seemed to give me more control and speed.

Going into the second lap

Anyway, the combo worked. I placed 2nd in the race tonight, a full 4 places better than I did last time. I lead or was in the lead for most of the race on both the climbs and the descents.

The guy that beat me was a fellow that consistently beat me last year (He didn't race 2 weeks ago). Fortunately, he only beat me by about 2 bike lengths. Last year he beat me by half a lap...

Oh - Top 3 fixed finishers win cash (so for second place, I brought home a bit of money!) Always appreciated!

The best part of Racing at Tabor is that the course goes right by a playground:

My kids - Future bike racers