Today was the annual Tour de Schenectady to benefit the Schenectady Cancer Foundation. The day’s activities included a 55 mile road bike ride, a 15 mile road bike ride and a mountain bike race. I, of course, participated in the mountain bike race. The race was held at the familiar Central Park Nature Trails in Schenectady. These trails are a lot of fun to ride. It is nearly all single-track, and when it is dry like today, the trails are fast.

It looks like it was my day today, getting my first win of the season…finally! I got off to my typical slow start settling in around forth. After a small blunder on a log crossing, I was still in forth but with at least a 30 second gap between myself and third. There was a lot of race still ahead, so I just rode my pace and as I felt I could ride faster, I did. Today I felt great, and being familiar with the trails, I rode all out from about the mid point of my first lap. Going into the second (last) lap, I took over the lead at the start/finish. My legs were loose, the bike handled perfect, so I was able to shift up to a higher gear and hammer. My final (second) lap was 4 minutes faster than my first lap. I guess I put those sprint intervals to good use today.

This race was probably the best I’ve felt all season. My plan is to ride easy this week, and hope I can bring the same to Windham next weekend.