I had to look twice as the bright yellow Jose Ole clad rider crossed the finish line. To my amazement it was Ed Dinger about 3 minutes behind me. I didn’t even see Ed at the start so I assumed he didn’t show up for the race. I guess I was too busy talking with the competition about our plans to pick a race where all us single speeders take shots each lap. One guy even suggested getting tattoos. That would be cool.

The single speed start was crowded with both sport and expert classes starting at the same time. Rim Nordic doesn’t have a pro single speed class so the Stephenson brothers were sure to take the lead today, and they did along with their other teammate George Munoz. The three of them took an early lead with me following a few bike lengths back. I was kind of surprised that I could keep pace with them, it didn’t feel all that fast. Glancing back however, our fast pace became evident with the remaining field falling behind. I kept thinking that I should back off a bit, but my heart rate held steady around 162 and I felt great.

When we hit the big climb I did loose sight of the threesome only catching an occasional glimpse of George. It’s real hard to figure out where your competition is at Rim Nordic. The course is too twisty and wooded to see your competition beyond 10-15 seconds on either side. I didn’t bother to even think about chasing the Sho-air guys down, they really are way stronger them me. I was more concerned about someone in class coming up behind.

The switchback descent is loose, bumpy, and narrow with a few boulders scattered here and there. On a good day I can get through this mine field pretty fast. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I was riding through lingering dust from George who was only a few switches below. I was smelling blood now and the chase was on.

As I came up behind him he sure didn’t seem to be on his game. When we hit the flat at the bottom I asked if he was ok. He complained about his shoulder. It made sense. George broke his collarbone at the start of last year’s season. It was bad enough to keep him from racing for an entire year.

We rode together for a mile or so until we hit a fire road climb where George just opened a big can-o-whup ass. I pushed for a while but eventually lost my blood trail, and besides, George isn’t even in my class so why should I blow up trying to catch him. I still had another lap to go.

There’s not much to say about my second lap. It was extremely fun, I love the Rim Nordic course, but it was uneventful racing wise. I didn’t see or race with anyone directly. Looking back occasionally revealed an empty trail. I crossed the finish feeling quite comfortable, do I dare say relaxed?

George managed to gain 2 minutes on me. Ed Dinger finished 3 minutes behind me. Perhaps if I knew Ed was back there I may have been inclined to push a bit more. I believe the short course caught Ed off guard. His style is to start slow and finish hard, today he ran out of course.