I love what a week of low/no activity can do to you. Attended a trade show, ate/drank and got a few miles in....my stupid back was sore going into the race and the training time was just about non-existent. Great.
This course is a technical, tough but big fun race. If you like sand, this would be your nirvana. I am determined to just go out and race a good race.
Anna & I (and Cookie) show up just about on time...we actually beat Gary and Satan, er Sadie there. David & John (masters) were going to ride the As; Gary, Tom K, Ian & I the Bs (Masters for me) with Anna & Sadie riding Cs.
Speaking of sand...the amount of sand-bagging is amazing...a "tip of the hat" to the Spin Bike Shop team for having all but two of their riders riding with the As instead of just trying to place high in the Bs for the "glory". What a concept.
Anyway; John & Ray give great course description so I'll let you read about the track layout from them.
I ride two warm up laps...this is going to be something else....a new definition in pain. At the end of the warm ups, I am late again in lining up...dang, I gotta stop doing this crap. The field is huge - 36 people with 19 Cs lined up behind us. Off we go and I get pretty good position, in the top 10 and then get jambed in the amphitheatre....but I'm feeling pretty good and not stressed about it. I nail the decent after the climb (yes I climbed it) and stay in good contact. One guy misses the sharp turn and cuts off the course a bit....something he would do more than once (NBD). Going through the sand next to the water I don't even try to ride it, remount and ride through the next stretch of sand....the next interesting thing that happens is at the log crossing in the next long sand area....someone (ed?) tries to bunny it and falls down like a sack of potatoes....I almost laughed. There was no way I was going to try that; last year I bunnied it every time clean, but it was moved to a different spot that didn't make sense to try it. I remember Ray coming up and staying on his wheel for awhile....getting encouragement from folks really helped but I was not going to stay with Ray....he has too big of an engine for me, but I knew he was hating the sand. Brian Lennon comes around me and I gave some him encouragement; he was looking really smooth and strong. I think this is just his second year? My race becomes a group of three; Jason (Stark) & Nate...Gary charges hard up & catches up to me...cool. Then I hear this sound and it sounds like I've broken a spoke...damn....I look down, no the front is fine, no the back is fine....uh, Gary....you OK? Then silence. Jeese, Gary suffers a wrapped around the front hub flag and he has to stop, pull it out and by the time he gets going again the "train has left the station". What a tough break. The rest of the race is Nate, Jason & I fighting it out; Nate & I run up the hill (ok...crawl up for me), Jason gaps us, I make up the gap and pass him on the two down hills and into the death spiral with David & John rooting me on, then Nate pulls past and he runs through the sand stretch while Jason & I ride it and make up the gap, then off we go. It was great riding with those guys in that dog fight that we had going on. I am staying with them and trying to save something for the bell lap AND trying not to make a stupid mistake. The bell lap comes, I lose a big gap to them on the climb, close it up a bit on the downhills and almost rejoin them in the death spiral...we catch up to Ian...I am tempted to yell at Ian to block for me so I can get back on.
:-) (don't worry I didn't but I did ask John & David why they didn't block as they were warming up and they replied something about I should get them on my own)
Well, I'm still in good position & for some reason I still can't figure out, I decide to "run" the entire sand section next to the water and promptly kill ANY chance of getting back on them. NICE.
We've got a big gap on anyone behind us so I push as hard as I can, but not to the point of wiping out. I finish 5th in the Masters B group, and what would have been 17th overall. With the pace of some of the B racers (7)....half of the A racers would have finished behind them. I was a good 10-25 seconds per lap slower than the winning pace in the B group. So I'm OK with the results....now just to get my back feeling better and get in some hours......
Congrats to Anna for coming in 1st in the woman's C race. She rode well & hasn't even been training, must be nice. :-)
Thanks for reading,
Rick
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