Short Track Race #3

What a difference a week can make. . . After a race that I wasn't very happy with even though I placed well (but felt slow).  After warming up got to the start, a pretty big field 17 experts (7 of which were from BikeSource) and 12 super sport (who would go off one minute after the experts).  Lined up in middle of the front row.  Got a bad start and went into the woods (probably 6 or 7).  Even though this wasn't what I was hoping for, I stayed calm and just rode in the position I was in since there's no where to pass (at least safely) unless someone is letting you by.

Once we finished the single track section and popped back out into the open I was able to get around a couple guys through the first gravel road section and was able to into to get into 3rd a couple seconds behind Matt Moosa and Robert Fish (two fellow BikeSource guys).  I was able to close back onto the two of them by the end of the second lap.  The three of us continued riding together (alternating who was leading each lap), and gradually openned up a gap on the rest of the field until the 5th lap where Matt upped the pace and Robert and I stayed together, we both knew that we couldn't pick up it up to the pace Matt was going. 

Robert and I continued riding together, swapping back and forth who would lead each lap.  Last week I never once caught up to lapped riders in the woods (when I caught up to them they were always on the open section where passing was easy).  Unfortunately the opposite seemed to be the case during this week's race, over the last handful of laps we caught up to several groups of riders just entering the woods. 

I was hoping I would be able to open a little bit of a gap on Robert during the last lap in the woods, but we were stuck behind slower traffic and just had to follow through the woods.  I continued to lead Robert as we came out of the woods, about half way through the open section Robert put in a surge and was able to open a small gap.  Unfortunately I couldn't get back into his draft and he kept maybe and 10 meter gap, even as we sprinted through the finish line.

While I finished third (jut like last week) I felt so much better about how I rode than I did last week.  Overall I was super happy with how I rode, it was too bad that I didn't out-sprint Robert for second.  But I felt much fast and better all through the race.  I've tried to think what I did differently between the two races and there really wasn't that much that I did before or during the two races that was too much different.  The short track series will take a week off before the next race on February 9th.

Photo courtesy of Paul Cunningham

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