My son, who was 15 at the time, wanted me to go with him for a bike race at Ole Bull state park in Potter County, PA. I thought, “Why not!?” Camping with my son, time to talk, a bike ride, and enjoy.” As we got there we pulled up next to a guy that looked approximately my age with a small foreign SUV and a bike worth more than his car (according to my son.) As we lowered our tailgate and I grabbed my Huffy he really gave me an odd and amusing look. Especially after I put the kickstand down.
The race is called the Midnight Maddness. You start at 12:00 noon with something called a LeMans start. The race is over at midnight that same day. Your results are based on how fast you do the 12 mile circuit and how many laps you do. Now my competitive juices are kicking in. In my age group 40-50 yrs. old there are about 7 of us, including the guy in the small SUV with the expensive bike. Knowing I was not going to be the fastest I decided to bet on multiple laps. As we started and everyone took off I laid back and just went an average speed. Approximately 3 hours later I finished the first circuit and took a look at the leader board. I was 6th out of 7. I went and got hydrated (I didn’t have a water bottle on my Huffy). I noticed the guy with the expensive bike in his tent only a few spots from ours. I checked out his number and realized he was in 3rd place. It didn’t look as if he was going to make another circuit. I think he may have been tired from constantly pumping air in and out of his tires. Why he did this was beyond me. I decided I was good for another lap, which I did at a leisurely pace.
The next day was the awards ceremony. I rode my Huffy over and put my kickstand down, not realizing at some events they actually have (Huffy tosses). As they got to my age group they called my name for 3rd place. My strategy worked! Remember the guy with the expensive bike? He HAD been in 3rd but my extra lap made the difference.
As we put the tailgate down to throw the Huffy in, the guy with the small SUV and the expensive bike gave me again an odd but amusing look.