Ok, I've decided that my 1st race is going to be the tour de Lizard the 2nd weekend of September in Arkansas city, Kansas. I've only had my bike about a month and have been doing mostly road riding. What should I be concentrating on? I currently weigh 225 and would like to lose down as close to 200 as possible before the race. Thats not a problem. Riding is what I'm most concerned about. I ride my mtn. bike mostly on roads during the week and am considering going to turkey mountain in Tulsa most weekends between now and the race to get some more offroad experience. Does this sound reasonable? If not, please give me some specifics that I can adhere to. I think the 1 lap distance is around 9 miles. Thanks for your help. Greg