Almost There

Conference Finals were last week here in Junction. It was nice to stay here for once and not have to drive into the boonies late at night. Short Track was on Saturday morning. We got a nice little hour ride with a bit of singletrack in before the race. My legs felt decent, but once again we all had a horrible starting position. Dead back row on a course that is all about position. Needless to say, we all sat waiting to get into the 1-track, then stopped again before a drop, then had to hike up the next hill. The course was a technical singletrack downhill, then a jeep road back up. After 3 laps, it finally cleared up a little and I was able to make up some positions. Ended up 11th which was fine. I think we would have all done much better with a better start.

Went up to the Ranch after that to help out and watch the dual slalom race. It was sick. There are some crazy fast dudes out here and the course was awesome. Here is a video of Ranchstyle that is held there in the spring. Kinda gives you an idea of what is up there.

Saturday night we went out to Olive Garden which turned into a bad choice. We ended getting competitive in an eating competition. Needless to say we were all hurting after 2 bowls of salad, 6 breadsticks, and 4 bowls of pasta.

Sunday morning was quite warm as I rode over to the XC course. It was dark and sprinkled a bit on me. My chain got jacked up with a tight link in my warm-up, so I spent the last few minutes before the start putting more links in. So, another back row start with not a ton of passing as it is a rocky climb. It started raining half way through the lap. By lap 2, the benonite on the ground turned into concrete. Wheels would hardly clear the frames. We hikes a bit, and just rode around having fun. No one was behind us as they stopped everyone after our group, so we rode a chill conversational pace and rolled in safely.

We leave next week for Truckee, CA for Nationals at Northstar at Tahoe Resort. Should be a sweet time. I am still waiting for my Superfly to come back. That bike should be killer on that course. I really hope it comes in by tomorrow so I can race it. After Nationals turns to donut and cyclocross season. Should be a blast!