Bike Racing

Dave says: It had been several years since we raced our bikes. However, Alisha is a competitor at heart and so it was only a matter of time after Jade was born before she was looking for some events to do. This race happens every year right in our backyard (Usery Mountain Park) and is put on by our friends at the local bike shop so this year it was time to do "The Showdown."

It's an 8 hour mountain bike race and we did it as a duo team which means that one of us was always riding. Each lap was about 45 minutes and we traded off every lap. Most teams just traded a timing chip but we also traded off on the same bike because we have the same seat height and only one fast racing bike right now (our trail bikes are not fast for this type of event).

The event started with a short uphill run to the bikes to spread things out which was not my favorite thing. However, I got a good start and was in second place overall for most of the first lap. However, this was much too fast a pace to be riding at for a long race like this. Alisha also put down a good first lap. About midway through the day we faded a bit from heat and fatigue and were the second duo team with third place right behind us. However, Alisha came on strong late in the day and I started feeling a bit better as well. We got first place which meant we won some apple pies. Alisha also won some cash prizes for fastest time of the day and some of the fastest segments on parts of the course. I don't feel like I'm in racing form right now but it was fun to get to do this event with her. I imagine she'll be ready for more of this sort of thing soon.

Alisha says: Two weeks after the Usery race I did another relay mountain bike race at McDowell Mountain Park. This time it was a 12 hour race and I was on a four person women team with Jennifer, Nicole and Victoria. Victoria put together the team and is an amazing friend that I met earlier this year. She is currently going through her second round of breast cancer and is right in the middle of radiation treatments but she still gets out there and rides and wanted to race. It was a fun day with lots of cool people to hang out with in between laps. We did 9 laps total and I did two of them. My first lap ended up being the fastest women lap time of the day and my second one was mostly in the dark. It was a fun course and we took first place in our category!!