The race Wednesday was at Renaissance, this is the course
closest to the shop and on the way to and from the shop from home, so I’ve
ridden there probably about 15 times this year, so I’m now incredibly
comfortable riding there (which is funny because it was the course I felt least
comfortable on last year). This was
going to be the first really hot race of the year (about 88), and so I knew
might play a role in the race, and knew I would have to be careful about my
nutrition and hydration. The last couple
races I haven’t drank all of my water/nutrition from my Camelbak, I knew this
wouldn’t work for a race this hot. I put
my Inifinit nutrition in a water bottle, so I would be able to see how much of
it I’ve had (a downside to the Camelbak is that you can’t see how much you’ve
had).
After getting to the race and getting all set up, I pre-rode
the course and got lined up for the start.
It’s an relatively long uphill start, so I knew I wouldn’t have to be
worried about getting a good start (I’d have plenty of time to make up for a
bad first 5 seconds). Fortunately I had
a really good start, and got the hole shot (first into the woods). After getting into the woods I eased up a
little. Robert Fish, another BikeSource
rider, was second, which made me a little more comfortable because I knew he
would just let me ride my race. When I
had gotten to the first climb up the big hill I had about a 5 second lead, over
Luke Sagur (who must have passed Robert).
I pushed the hill but didn’t go crazy, I knew we still had over an hour
to race.
Luke caught up to me as we entered the second section of
single track. Unfortunately about 5
minutes into the wood I hit a pedal on a root, I didn’t go down but it slowed
me down enough that Luke was able to pass.
I got going again and followed Luke for the remainder of the first
lap. Before starting the second lap, I
passed Luke in the open section leading into the wood. I continued to ride well and slowly opened a
gap over Luke, unlike the previous lap I was able to extend that gap going up the
big hill. I think about this time Donald
Butler (one of our racers and a fellow manager at BikeSource), started telling
me how big of a lead I had. I was sorry
to see that he DNF’d in his race, but was very thankful that he was going to be
able to let me know the kind of lead I had.
The first time he told me I think he said it was 15 seconds. Since I was feeling good I continued to push
the pace and was riding really smooth (all those times riding the course were
certainly helping). The next time Donald
told me I had about 20 seconds, then it was 40 second, then a minute, then 1:30
as I was in the last section of singletrack.
At this point I wasn’t trying to push it, but just trying to continue
riding well, I knew the only way I would lose was if I crashed or cramped
badly. I came out of the wood and into
the finishing straight, what an amazing feeling: my first expert win. I checked to make sure no one was coming up
behind me, and then pedaled the 15 seconds or so to the finish line.
I thanked Donald for giving me updates and asked if he was
ok, he had wrecked out but was doing ok.
Chatted with some of the BikeSource guys and guys from other guys I knew
from other teams. Mixed up my Infinit recovery drink. No run today, a gift to myself for
winning. Pulled on my Swiftwickcompression socks before heading home.
Certainly a day to smile about.
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