Another week in

Race weekend number two down. Wasn't really sure how I'd feel for this one. Had some really hard rides during the week and my openers hurt the day before. A little 6hr drive, and we were at Beaver Meadows around 10:30pm. Set up camp and hit the sack.

Short track was a sweet loop with mostly 2-track and a cool 1-track climb. I knew I was in trouble during my warm-up. Was able to pick spots off during the race, but I couldn't get into an top end speed at all. Legs were a bit fatigued. The cold temperatures did not help either. Somehow I managed to move up to 8th out of 32 racers by the time the finish rolled around.

We went back to camp and ate some food before a pre-ride of the XC course. While we were relaxing, it started to snow lightly on us. A few falkes rolling down around noon. Not liking that. It was chilly. So the best thing to do is go ride up a mountain to warm up. Hit up the course and it was sweet. The 34T chainring up front was primo. Climbs were tough, and the DH was a large rock garden.

We woke up to sun on Sunday morning for our 9am start. Got a decent start and hit the climb in good position. By the top, I was sitting around 6th, about 15 seconds off the pace of the lead group of 5. That was the end of that. The trail went down and I went backwards. I think 5 people passed me going down. Luckily the legs were feeling good and I was able to pass most of the back on the lap 2 climb. Held off all but one on the descent, then hit the second climb on lap 2 hard. Coming to the last mile, the CSU guy I was looking for to pass me finally came by at warp speed. Yup, lost another spot. Fun race though, I just rode really conservative trying not to flat or crash. Last year I triple flatted here. This year, no flats, no crashes, no dabs-good race. Not sure how I finished up, as I never saw results.

This weekend should be good with a XC race at Sol Vista, then hopefully a my first cyclocross race of the season up high in Breckenridge. But first, I have to go beat my body up for hours on end before the weekend. Putting it all on the line in another month.