Harbin Park, Fairfield, OH, TT Finale!

August 31, 2007 on 2:36 pm | In Mountain Bike Racing |

At precisely 07:00:30 pm last night the man yelled go! and Chad sat motionless for a moment. He was contemplating the wonderful aspects of his life. The cool crisp evening that he was racing his mountain bike, his lovely girlfriend Sara, his outstanding teamates at Biowheels and of course Piggy. When he finally put power to the pedals at 07:00:32 he set out with a demonic fire. A 00:19:23 pace that would in the end become the course single lap record. At this pace in less than five minutes into the first lap he was only one turn behind his nemesis, the man that started thirty seconds ahead of him C Huck Miller.

If you’re keeping track Irey beat Miller by four minutes on a course four times the distance two weeks earlier. So the current pace seems to be right on par for the season and Irey should pass his nemesis by the end of the lap and proceed to polish him off by another thirty seconds by race end.

The sighting of Irey and the thought of getting caught does something to a veteran racer and C Huck is a veteran that has been around the race course a few times so he is no stranger to doing everything in his power to make up time and has felt the required pain many times before. The race has now been taken to a new level.

Round and round they went. Marking time gaps at each sighting. First time up Mt. Mother, Irey is within seconds. The race goes on there is pain in Millers eyes at the top. Out of the single track, Irey has not caught him yet. Up the grassy hill, the time gap is too close to call but Irey has just set the course record.

These boys are on fire!

Second lap. Irey is no longer one corner behind Miller, the time gap has grown. Mt. Mother, Miller almost to the top, Irey still descending. Top of the next climb, someone on the course screamed in pain. This race will be close! Miller is out of the single track and onto the grass sprinting up the hill as if he were racing some fantom rider. Seconds later Irey in his biggest chain ring sprints the final hill like a man possessed.

Two seconds, only two seconds divide these two gentlemen. Can you imagine only two seconds and one man gets a bottle of chain lube and the other doesn’t. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m sure that for months both equally poured there heart and soul into preperation for this event and the bounty for one is so great while the bounty for the other is so little.

Win or not, I love racing!

Charley Miller