Title: Laurel Classic MTB Race
Location: Wellsboro
Description: This will be my second time racing at the Laurel Classic MTB Race. The first year I competed, I took first overall in the beginner class. I decided to enter the sport class for this year.
Start Time: 11:00
Date: 2008-09-06

It’s official now.  My mountain biking races are finished for this year.  I wish I could say I went out with a bang, however, I did not.  When I was getting ready for the race (the morning of), I was thinking ahead and packed Advil knowing that when I bike in a race I bike very intense and normally my lower back starts to hurt.  Normally if I take some Advil before i race, I don’t notice the pain as much during the race.  Forgetful Kenny didn’t remember to take the Advil before the race started.  Not only that, I couldn’t take any once I started racing either because it was back in the vehicle.

Just like clockwork, I started to feel the lower back pain at the top of the first climb (which is 4 miles by the way).  It still wasn’t bad enough that I was out of the competition, so I continued to push forward.  It wasn’t until after the second climb of the race that I started to realize that I was going to be out of the competition.  It was getting difficult for me to stand and pedal, which is an important aspect of mountain bike riding.  The third and final climb (large climb anyway) put the pain over the top.  I actually had to get off my bike and try to stretch my back and get the blood flowing back into it again (it was another biker’s suggestion I gathered while climbing hill three).  It did work for a little while.  My back felt refreshed for about a mile but then I was right back to were started (not literally, because then I would have finished the race).  After that last mile of feeling good, everything went to crap.  A section of the course that I know I can normally ride at about 10-15 mph I was doing at about 2 mph because that was the only way to keep the pain at a minimum.  All I wanted to do was finish the race in one piece.  And I eventually did, in seventh place.

The other members of Team Summit Junkies also entered the race, as did my uncle Chris.  Steve took first in his age group, my mom took second out of all the beginner females, and Chris took first out of his age group in the beginners.  As for my dad, well, he did come in fourth place in the same age group as Steve, however my dad had a pretty bad accident during the race.  He was probably less than two tenths of a mile away from the finish line and he flipped over the front of his bike and rammed his shoulder into the ground, tearing a ligament that holds one of his shoulder bones in place.  He was able to get back on his bike an finish the race, however, he now needs to have his arm in a sling.  It doesn’t fit my dad seeing him with any type of medical stuff on him.

That is my update on the race.  As I predicted, it wasn’t nearly as much fun as the Ole Bull race.  I am looking forward to that race again next year.