Being that it is Thursday, I should be completely recovered from the long hard race the previous Sunday at Afton Alps. The legs felt fairly good and the previous workouts did not leave them very tired.
We arrived at Buck later than anticipated after weaving our way towards the cities due to endless road construction. I didn't have enough time to go out for a lap warm-up, not that I would have anyway because of the heat. A couple of spins around the start/finish area and a couple of short climbs were all I needed to feel ready for the race. For some reason I just wasn't too enthused about the race tonight. I wanted to test a few things out as far as bike set-up goes, but I was in no mood to put myself in any pain
I lined up in the third row at the start and got a decent jump, holding the person in fronts wheel. part way up the service road, however, a couple of riders to my left got tangled up and brought a decent size group to the ground. I managed to avoid the incident, but my eagerness to push through the pack disappeared. After the crest of the hill the trail heads back down into the dirt parking lot before entering a sandy climb at the base of the single track. By this time there was a long line of riders slowly pushing their bikes up the sandy double track section. The game plan now was to ride conservatively for the first lap, passing riders when necessary, then kick up the pace for the remainder of the race trying to pass as many riders on the climbs as possible. Well, I was able to do the first part by riding conservatively, but I was generally lazy the remainder of the race when it came to pushing myself. I was able to pass people effectively on the climbs, but on the relatively flat sections I didn't do a very good job pursuing people in front of me. At the end of lap 3 Cory Gross passed by me and I did nothing to respond. I could see that he was pushing hard to catch up to the riders in front of me. As I started lap 4 I finally got into the race and made a conscious effort to push hard for the remainder of the race. I was amazed at how fast I could ride some of the sections, especially traversing across the ski slopes. I pushed hard the remainder of the lap and started to lap a few adv women and rec men. For some reason I managed to miss the finish line chute and it cost me at least 30 seconds at the end of the race.
Not to bad considering the effort I put into it. One thing that I did notice was my tires skating all over the place. I have been running Hutchinson Pythons, which I like because they roll really well, but they are horrible in the turns especially if there is any sand over hard pack. I have ordered a new set of Kenda Karmas that should arrive by next Thursdays race and I will give them a try
Race Results
We arrived at Buck later than anticipated after weaving our way towards the cities due to endless road construction. I didn't have enough time to go out for a lap warm-up, not that I would have anyway because of the heat. A couple of spins around the start/finish area and a couple of short climbs were all I needed to feel ready for the race. For some reason I just wasn't too enthused about the race tonight. I wanted to test a few things out as far as bike set-up goes, but I was in no mood to put myself in any pain
I lined up in the third row at the start and got a decent jump, holding the person in fronts wheel. part way up the service road, however, a couple of riders to my left got tangled up and brought a decent size group to the ground. I managed to avoid the incident, but my eagerness to push through the pack disappeared. After the crest of the hill the trail heads back down into the dirt parking lot before entering a sandy climb at the base of the single track. By this time there was a long line of riders slowly pushing their bikes up the sandy double track section. The game plan now was to ride conservatively for the first lap, passing riders when necessary, then kick up the pace for the remainder of the race trying to pass as many riders on the climbs as possible. Well, I was able to do the first part by riding conservatively, but I was generally lazy the remainder of the race when it came to pushing myself. I was able to pass people effectively on the climbs, but on the relatively flat sections I didn't do a very good job pursuing people in front of me. At the end of lap 3 Cory Gross passed by me and I did nothing to respond. I could see that he was pushing hard to catch up to the riders in front of me. As I started lap 4 I finally got into the race and made a conscious effort to push hard for the remainder of the race. I was amazed at how fast I could ride some of the sections, especially traversing across the ski slopes. I pushed hard the remainder of the lap and started to lap a few adv women and rec men. For some reason I managed to miss the finish line chute and it cost me at least 30 seconds at the end of the race.
Not to bad considering the effort I put into it. One thing that I did notice was my tires skating all over the place. I have been running Hutchinson Pythons, which I like because they roll really well, but they are horrible in the turns especially if there is any sand over hard pack. I have ordered a new set of Kenda Karmas that should arrive by next Thursdays race and I will give them a try
Race Results
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