After months of winter mixes of snow, rain and everything in between, temp started looking up a few weeks ago. I hurried to get a mountain bike together, as it had been road only since new years day. After so much experimentation, i got my setup pretty dialed in. 20lbs with cages. Pretty nice! Rode it 4 times before the race today, mostly in the rocks in hopes of getting some technical skills back. Went up to Fridley's gap where the downhill is steep and rocky!
Running a 2x9 setup 32/42 chain ring combo, it worked great at the race today, and there was plenty of steep climbing!
Schwalbe is my sole sponsor this year, and i am pretty happy about it. Great tires. Been running the Rocket Ron for training and they worked awesome racing as well. Good hookup on the wet course today.
I was pretty unsure of my fitness going into the race. I have been riding about 3 times a week, and will have to improve on that, and am also a bit over my target weight. So when the race started in the 50 degree drizzle i didn't know what to expect. The separation happened early with Nick Waite and i leading, Ryan Fawley chasing hard. It didn't take long until i was alone in no man's land between Nick and Ryan. For the remaining 2 hours i just focused on chasing hard, rewarded with sparse signs of Nick, usually in the form of tire tracks.
Rolled in at 2:38 2nd place, and am still a bit sore. The real 'kick' came when i took my shoes off and i saw my big toe. Couldn't feel it because of the cold, but my toenail was coming off and the toe was very bloodied. It is a bit better two days later, but i have stayed off the bike because of it, looking to do a big ride tomorrow though!
Trying to lay out a race schedule tonight, and getting ready for Dragon's Tale this weekend!
