POSTS

Weekend in review

Twelve hours is a long time to spend in a car driving solo in less than 60 hours, but that's what I did this past weekend. The race went fairly well, I was in the bottom half of the overall Pro/Expert field, but felt great the whole race. My goal was to finish and feel like I could have gone out for another lap, and I did. I was on my Spider, but I felt so much more comfortable in a 29'er rhythm down around 75 - 80 RPM. With that experience, I'm definitely going to take the 29'er up to the Dawn 'til Dusk race. I'll probably switch between the two bikes to see which one feels better and which one has better times

I learned this weekend that if I see something while packing and think to myself "nah, I won't need that", I will. I had to buy some more Stan's because I ripped a tire pre-riding the course Saturday. I had a new tire, just no Stan's. Also, when I got through with the ride I noticed one of my linkage bolts had started backing out. I ended up having to take the crank off to figure out what I just had to pound it back in until it met the threads, then start tightening it. Ahh... nothing like disassembling your bike the night before a race.

Like I said earlier, the race went like I had hoped result wise - finished with energy to spare. I had no speed though. I could accelerate for 5 minutes or so, then I'd start backing off 'cause my mind was drifting. If I thought about it again, I could start pushing and picking up steam again. I let heart attack hill get the better of though. I was worried about having enough in me for that climb that I think I held back when I should have been pushing. One of the curses of knowing the course too well and not knowing how your body will react to it I guess.

The weekend told me what I needed to know. I've got a descent enough base to start moving over to the build phase now and start working on speed and power.

As far as placing, I did take 2nd and made my gas money back but I was way off of the first place pace, so there was no contesting that. Based on previous early season racing though, I'm right where I want to be for a strong end of the year. I've got the energy to complete the races even though I'm not really competing for wins. By August though, I'll be a contender - at least at the regional level. With the early season here in Arizona I'll hopefully be in a place where I can actually do something at the Coyote next year.

This coming weekend's Gallup. 12 hours of punishment. Fun times :D