What a day for a mountain bike race. Mild temps, a sunny blue sky, and best of all--A DRY COURSE! After picking my jaw back up off the ground at the shock of a $30 entry fee, I stroll back outside to the start/finish area and inhale the fresh, clean air of Schwenkesville, Pa. Surveying the tree-lined landscape and the bustling pre-race activity around me, I think to myself "Yes, this is what it's all about. I'm at the pinnacle of the human experience, one with nature and the world. What a beautiful, beautiful..." HOLY CRAP! I almost get plowed over by the beginner class as they slam through the gravel at the beginning of the course, interrupting my pre-race euphoric reverie. Whoa!

Back at the car, Steve and I watch the beginners come through the section by the parking lot, observing their surprisingly mud-free bikes and bodies. "Look at that--the course is dry. I'm definitely using my light tires," Steve says. I say "Uh, I don't care. I'm using what I've got." I proceed to put too much air in my tires, and inflate my shock with too much air pressure, which has apparently become part of my pre-race ritual.

Steve and I go out for a warm-up, and ride around the back half of the course. Very, very fun. A fast downhill into a tight, twisty section at the bottom of the mountain puts a huge smile on my face.

We assemble ourselves at the start line. The senior experts go off, and Brandon Ott, on his blinding orange super bike, rockets a 100 yards off the front of the pack as they go up the first hill.

There are only 3 of us expert women--me, Jackie Paull, and Lauri Webber. We're off and we start jamming up the dirt hill toward the woods. I'm proud of myself, because I'm actually riding with Jackie for the whole first lap. Jackie is inspiringly fast.

Then the singletrack happens at the start of the second lap. Whoops--sure wish I would've seen THIS before the race...

Yes, in just over a lap I've gone from feeling strong and fit to being an embarrassment to the sport. Here's a sample of me in the singletrack section: "Uh! Whoa! Ouch!" [get off, get on, flail around, get off] "Ah! Oh! Crap! [fall over, curse, get on, get off] Etc. You get the picture--it wasn't pretty.

So by the time I get out of the woods and back on the climb, I'm now 45 seconds down from Lauri, and who knows how far behind Jackie. But like I said, the back half of the course is a lot of fun, so I start jamming again.

This is how my race unfolds--lose gobs of time in the front section of the loop, and make up gobs of time in the back section. I pass Lauri one last time on the 4th lap, where she is hunched over her bike, fixing a flat.

I cross the line and hack up my lungs for an hour. Remember that $30 entry fee? It was worth it--I got my biggest score all year!

And Steve rode a great race on his slick tires--3rd place in the vets.

Check out the results and pictures at www.springmountain-fun.com.

--Jesse Piersol, 2nd, expert women