Undefeated at the national level

Well... I haven't actually beat anybody, but nobody's beat me either. :D

I'm currently at the library for my Internet connection, so I'm keeping this one short. Yesterday was a sufferfest. We started out with an hour's worth of climbing, I'm guessing all told we ended up with around 3k - 4k in that first hour (or hour for me). I kicked it up a little at the start to try and keep a decent placing in the first section of single track, then settled into a comfortable rhythm for the rest of the climb. I was planning on turning laps around 2 hours and set my first at 2:05 so I was pleased.

Second lap, just died. If it wasn't for the points and the assumption that there was at least one (I thought possibly two or three from looking around at the start) other guys in my category that I thought I might be racing in Brian Head for the series title, there wouldn't have been much motivation to go on. I toughed it out though, and as I got about half way up the first climb on the second lap, I lost all but three gears - 22x32, 34x22, and 44x22. Blew out another shifter housing. Second marathon in a row that's happened, and third time this year. Time for some Nokon housing.

When I shifted to into preservation mode I set my goal as not being lapped by the pro leader. I'm at the bottom of a double switch back 200 yards from the finish and I hear brakes behind me. I look back, there's Travis Brown in his solid black. Another goal I had for this race was to finish with some energy. Well, though my legs would have told you otherwise, I had a bit left in me. I sprinted the final 200 yards to keep from getting lapped and finished about 15 seconds ahead of Brown. Granted, he finished three laps in the time it took me to do two, but...

So, all in all a good week. There's only one rider in the country who can beat me for the series title now. And it would take a combination of him winning Brian Head and me not finishing it in order for that to happen. And even then, it's really a tie, but it goes back to the last highest finish to break the tie.

The course was epic, but I was disappointed in the turn out. I really thought we'd have at least a half dozen guys show up. There wasn't but 20 or so riders in the pro field. I guess the $70 entry fee is steep.

Anyhow, once I have an internet connection in my room (Sunday night/Monday), I'll write up a little bit more about the course and the race I put in. 4:45 minutes is a long time to spend on a bike, so I'm sure I can come up with more than a few hundred words.