2012 Sproctoberfest at Gainesville College

This weekend was special. It's the first time any of my girls has shown interest in racing with me. My 12 year old Molly has been practicing on her Mom's mountain bike for a few months. She even asked her Mom to take her to pre-ride the course the Friday before the race! Now to be fair, Molly is a pleaser. If you have more than one child you understand that God makes them...different. Molly wants everyone to be happy with her. She loves to hear you say you're proud of her. She works very hard to than end. She also stresses herself out sometimes.

Ellie Hayes at the kids race.

My youngest daughter Ellie is quite a bit different. She's my little individual. A real free thinker. She's got a stubborn streak that gets her in trouble. But she's very loving and very protective. She may get tired of her sister sometimes but let someone threaten her and Ellie turns into a Rottweiler.

Ellie and I got up on Saturday morning and headed over to the start of the Good News for Gainesville Ride. I wanted to see my friends and donate a little money to this great cause. They had a great turn out and I'm sure a great ride. It was good to see Alex Sloan and finally meet Mrs. Sloan. The Baxter's guys were filing in and I saw Joe Elam before we had to leave. I'm sorry I missed this great ride with good people. I did notice that WDUN Radio was there blasting out tunes! How cool is that! Thank you to them for supporting cycling in Georgia!!

We met Lisa, Molly, and Bill Mashburn and Matt Williams whom we shared a tent with. I didn't want to miss a minute of the kids riding so I didn't get dressed before the kids race. At the start Ellie stayed with the big kids for a while but soon the grassy field took it's tole. When she finally made it around the lake I could tell she wasn't happy about the whole thing. All I could think was... "that's my girl!" Angry that she couldn't keep up. It didn't take long for her to get over it though and she spent the rest of the day playing on the college ropes course with some friends she made.

The start of the 6Hr race began with a run to the bikes. I wasn't nervous but I did want to get a good start so I wouldn't be behind a ton of riders. I'd be out there for around 3.5 hours because Molly first had to go play in a flag football game at the church. The girls enjoyed the fact that I ran past my bike... and they got it on film.
So I basically settled in to a solo effort. I didn't get a chance to warm up at all and boy did I pay for that. I started out good but about 5 minutes later my adrenaline ran out and I felt like crap.

I worked for the next 2 hours to build up a big lead on the rest of the coed category. I figured I needed the most I could get because Molly would probably take around 10 mins longer on her lap.

My body tried to let me know I needed to slow down but I kept thinking about Molly. There's some serious motivation involved with racing on a team with your daughter. I desperately wanted to get on the podium with her so I ignored all the warning signs my body was giving me and soldiered on. Drinking and eating and sweating and stretching. Wow my back hurts! Yikes... better not fully extend my legs...that was a cramp that almost happened. Why is my finger numb? Nothing like aggravating a Six Gap saddle sore! But none of it matters. You are DADDY!! Be the Dad! Push through the pain! She's worth it!!

And so just in time they showed up to give me a break and let Molly get in her one lap. I was ready too. Just so you know, Lisa took pictures and Ellie took the video. I was upset with her videography skills until I saw her last installment which you'll see at the end of this story. After that I just forgot about being mad.
Molly and I made a great exchange and I headed to the tent...and a chair. I figured I had around 45 minutes. After taking a breath I grabbed the video camera and rode into the trail to catch Molly riding. But she was fast enough that I missed her... twice!

She completed her first lap in 39 minutes 45 seconds. Very nice! She looked tired. Don't we all. And so I hopped back on for what I thought would be two more hours of happy trails. I pushed through another lap and when I popped out of the woods to ride around the lake I could hear my family yelling for me. What a great sound! There's something special about your wife cheering for you. And nothing is sweeter than my little girls yelling "Go Daddy Go!"
When I came close to the start and realized Molly was ready to do another lap! I couldn't believe it! She just smiled and said I'll try my best Daddy.

Oh well I thought... we may not be on the podium but at least she raced as many laps as the adult women did. She took a little over 42 mins to do her second lap. I had no idea where we were in the standings after that but I figured I might as well give us our best chance anyway. It was double caffeine gel time! (and two Advil)

I really enjoyed competing against John and Farrah Galley from Lester's Body Shop. They are super cool people. Farrah was so much fun and very encouraging to Molly. She and John were the typical coed team. John was super competitive and only wanted to sit down and rest while Farrah was riding. By contrast Farrah was up and talking to everyone and having a blast while John hammered his brains out to win. Ahhh... marriage.
It's all good John! Just remember... Happy Wife, Happy Life!

The first lap was ok but on my second and final lap I could feel the chill of cramps working into my legs and the back of my arms. My focus was on my daughter though and I pushed as hard as I could without locking up the running gear. Lisa yelled to me that we were back in 3rd Place as I passed through so I knew I just needed to stay on the bike. It's a lonely old trail when you're searching for the perfect way to pedal without cramping. I needed to stand and relieve my saddle sore but that created the possibility of leg cramps. And so here's today's lesson for you folks. If you squat and don't fully extend your legs while you stand it will prevent your legs from cramping. At least it did for me... during that race. Of course if your arms are cramping and you have shoulder pain all bets are off.



When I came through the Start/Finish I was so... relieved. I just needed to do an average lap and not screw it up. And so I did.

2012 Tumbling Creek 6 Hr MTB Coed Podium

Here's the Ellie produced video featuring her own special blend of special effects.

Dustin Mealor, 2nd Place 39 Under Solo

We were all very tired. But the day was hardly over. We heading to the Stamphills house to watch Georgia get beat in high definition. Before that we watched Dustin Mealor get his just rewards as the 2nd Place finisher in the 39 Under Solo category. Bill and Matt took 4th in the 2 Person race with friends Stephen Masopust and Marcus Seymore taking 1st Place. Todd Bowers, Caleb Adams, and Meredith Burnett took 3rd in the 6 Hr 3 Person category.

Young Dylan Cantrell competed in his first 6 hr mountain bike race a brought home 2nd Place in the Junior 18 and Under category. This kid rides the Tuesday night throwdown with us and completed the Bridge to Bridge ride a few weeks ago. He's living proof that cramping isn't an old mans problem. I gave him some electrolytes during the race and he pushed through for a great podium spot. His Mom and Dad were very proud. I like this family.

Dylan Cantrell, 2nd Place Junior Solo

And now I'll wrap this up with Ellie's final video. She enjoyed having unfettered use of my Sony Bloggie video camera. I hope to see you all at the Hills of Habersham this weekend and then the Lt. Governor's Century on October 20th!!!