MTB - long lost picture -good day for a ride

So this evening my wife finds a picture I've trying to find now for a few years...one of the remaining memories for a trip a long time ago. Kind of fitting with a MTB Race looming tomorrow at Branched Oak.

I've mentioned before that in 84? - Gary Mulder, David Cech and I went down to Florida for some fall road racing. What a blast...still living in the past on that trip...Carefee it was. The only bummer is I got sick with a bad case of Bronchitis on the trip. I had taken some winnings from a race in Bloomington Ill. - 300.00 and decided on a whim to go along with these guys down there to Miami Fl. Races every weekend September into October- Roughly 400.00 bucks in my pocket and a month and half of racing, gas and living expenses? Wow times were different then...maybe not? I was banking on making a little cash I guess. I did - but so very little, maybe I scored a couple lower placings here and there. David and Gary were raking in the cash at the races and doing really well. We had a blast - We stayed with a very generous bike shop owner and his wife that had little shop down in Homestead south of Miami. Literally a few miles of ride time from their house and we were out of town and able to ride on the flat sheltered roads down south, to Florida City, down to the Everglade area. Some days we'd tuck a swim suit and a towel under our seats and stop at a marina on the way back from our rides and work on our tans and snorkel and swim a little. Tough life. Maybe as close to professional bike racing as I've ever come. David actually went on to race as a professional in Europe the next year with Team Xerox...Gary went on to become Pro too within the next year. Hmmm. What happened to me?

During the 2nd week of my bronchitis hack down there we did our first ever MTB race in Tampa Bay. We figured what the heck - there was a good payout too, which I really needed. We used Borrowed Bikes - Fuji had a fleet they traveled with and when you signed up, you got to pick out a bike to use after the previous races were done right before the race...After all we only had Road Machines while there. Mountain bike racing was in is infantcy very few had MTB bikes around here at that time. What was cool was that the Specialized team was there traveling on this curcuit of races. I can't remember who was on that team..>Was Tilford?...I do remember Lawrence Malone, multiple national Cross Champion on that team. He was so smooth on the dismounts they had set up. You can tell from the picture the course was set up on a football field at some school. They had some Telephone poles laid out for the dismounts. Really the course was a great Cross course.

That's Gary in front of me...I think he was nice and let me slip one place in front of him at the finish. I ended up 7th or something, made 120.00 bucks or so...that helped. My bike had a stiff link and skipped the whole time of the race...that was a drag. Remember to check your bike before the race for last minute issues.

Today TP and PC and I did a MTB ride out to Pawnee and rode a little on the trails as we cut through the park. That place is great. I always forget how good the loop around that Lake is...