TOL

Not a whole lot to write about. Saturdays race was very hard. The start was a little chaotic with the announcer yelling go while all the officials were yelling no, so I was one of the last ones clipped in. I pedaled hard to pass a bunch of riders. The course on campus is very hard from the back. The turns are tough and there are a lot of them, most of them just before a hill. When you are in the back you are slowing down when the guys in the front are speeding up to hit the hill.

Safe to say its best to ride the front in this race.

After 2 laps I was still on, but getting thirsty, I was drinking but I guess not enough. The next lap up I missed a bottle, the feeder tried dumping it on my head while I was trying to grab it from her to put it in my mouth. It didn't work. So 15 minutes later I'm chasing, without water, I get behind a dude who I thought was chasing and he wasn't going fast, I don't realize this till the gap between me and the top 30 riders or so are another 15 seconds up the road.

I see 9 to go next lap, I could have easily stopped riding and got in the shade, but at this point I was getting good feeds so I kept going for training, riding pretty hard.

The course on KU is hard, Most people say its the hardest. Its the turns before the hills and the way the hills get steeper as you get to the top that does this.

I ended up 29th place out of 70 riders or so. I'm pretty sure had I stayed with the top 3 groups I would have had this result anyways.



Sunday I woke up and didn't want to race, I ate a good breakfast though and eventually felt a little better. Plus with everyone asking me what time I race, I ended up registering, paying another $50 and pulling on my cooling suit. The downtown race seemed really easy. You had to pedal hard, but it was not windy at all, so no one was getting dropped. Kent went for a prime, $50, he won, but eventually learned Heath Blackgrove was up the road and already got it, sucks.

With 5 to go I was losing my focus, I was slowly going backwards but eventually realized and jumped a few times. With 2 to go I was mid 30s....did't see a safe place to move up and I figured it would slow a bit on the 1st or 2nd turn into the final lap. I got behind a big dude I thought would go hard but he didn't go anywhere, actually probably lost some spots. I ended up 35th I think.


Its mtn. bike season.


If you ride a 61cm bike and want a new full carbon road frame, let me know, I have a few.


ManionsCX, 9-25-11, Sunday.