3/19/2011
By: C. Kent, aka (Superman)
Special Race Report


I don't know how the Borrego ride went but we were represented at the Camp Pendleton Bull Dog race today. In truth Daredevil was there but that hardly counts because he is almost always there, he is a Marine.

Some of us had been watching the weather report all week and they predicted almost a 50 percent chance of rain so not that many of us decided to go. I had been looking forward to it all year and decided to drive down just to see how the weather really was. I got there about a half hour before Centaur and waited around to see if it was going to get wet. Everything looked fine until I registered and paid my entry fee. No sooner had I put down my Check then it started to rain. But I was committed as was Centaur. We drew a 9:10 and a 9:20 start time and Centaur started 10 minutes before me. But by 9:00 the rain stopped and all we had to deal with was wet roads, oh and dirt.


I think I was a bit too cautious because I had never been on the course and I ended up and the chase group rather than the lead pack. Still I moved up pretty well and hit the climb to the Recreation area and jumped in front of our group as we started the climb. No one was passing me so I was afraid I might have gone out too hard. I saw centaur heading back about the time I was halfway up the climb. I never made up any distance on Centaur but I did get to race a rider representing the Coast Guard all the way back to the start finish. I ended up finishing in 1:29:59 about two minutes slower than Centaur.

Centaur and Phoenix were waiting for me as I crossed the finish line and one look at both of us and you might have thought we had just been in a Cycle cross. Both bikes were covered in mud and Centaur was pretty spotted as well. It was harder to see how dirty my bibs and jersey were because I was wearing digital camouflage but I can assure you I was covered as well.

We walked back to the vehicles to put our bikes away and change into something a bit warmer before walking back to see what our time was and if we could spot Daredevil. It was then I discovered that Centaur had a better time than I did and that he had knocked off 11 minutes from his ride last year. Still I was happy with my first race and I think I would do it again. Maybe next time I can try it in warmer weather.