What I saw first thing this morning.
Long story. It's been raining steady for the last 2 days. It was slick to start with. Buckwallow is the most technically demanding course of the series. Oh, wait till they come to our home track for Championships.
Was up to the event early, promised Dr. Bill I would do his bottle feed. This also meant that I get a chance to hang out and cheer on the crew from MCC.
The course was modified at the last minute because of the rain. It was still going to be tough. The 9:30 start had alot of fast riders. This also had the singlespeed division. MCC had a few riders in this pack with Davis Ross and the father/son combo of Dale and Thomas Wood. Thomas is the course designer at Mountainview.
Thomas lined up at the front.
Ran into Tristan Smit in this pack also. Playing with the singlespeeders today. Got a chance to hear what happen at World's. He road well and finished 3rd.
The MCC crew did great at the 9:30 start. Thomas finished 5th in single speed, Dr Bill was 3rd and Mark Matthews finished 5th, Both in the 40-49 class. Pretty fast for some old guys. Erin Wood took 3rd in her first race in sport. I missed the ceremonies unfortunately since I was warming up.
Ok, back to the me part of this. I had this race totally set as training with alot of friends. This still means that I want to beat my friends. I also wanted to make sure I got the points needed to move up a division. But still training.
Sitting in the start coral I was back a little farther than I wanted to be. When the siren went I did hit the front but was gaped by about 10 feet from the first pack. In other words no draft on the long start loop doubletrack. Oh wait there was a draft, behind me as I led the 2nd pack. I didn't mind because I wanted to hit the singletrack in the 5th or 6th. There are not alot of places to pass in Buckwallow and if someone gets stalled up everyone stops. With the rain it was going to happen.
This course did play to some of my strengths. I did what I could to stay off my brakes in the rough singletrack. This was a good thing since the mud basically destroyed my rear brakes half way through the 2nd lap. Some of the course was completely unridable. The roots and mud forced you to run the bike. For me and my wonderful knees had me concerned but I had no pain at all and managed to pass alot of riders in these sections.
I hooked up behind Dave Enns on the 2nd lap. I was sitting in 5th with Dave in 4th. He worked it right and let me pass him on the double track tucking in behind. If I would have been concerned about a strategy I would have made him lead or tried to drop him. I just kept things steady so he had a free ride till the singletrack. We battled back in forth for the next lap. He would drop me on the double track and I would pull him in on the singletrack.
This was great until my rear brake really faded completely on the 3rd lap. I wasn't able to pull him in the last few singletrack sections. Crossed the line in 5th. I'm really happy with the result. I'm pretty sure that I have my points to move up. Jeff had a great result taking 2nd in our division. Another MCC podium. Also Lee winning the 20-29 sport class.
The highlight was at the 1:30 race. Brett Matthews. Start watching this kid. You will see him in Pro Elite in no time. The only thing stopping him is his age. He is only 15. He took 1st today beating National Champion Mitch Bailey.
So the damage. Chain, bottom Bracket (it was due), all derailleur cables and casing and a set of rear pads.
Stopped in to chat with the coach on the way home. Also went over the strategy for the 9 hour. I'm not telling but lets just say that it's alot different than what I've done in the past. She has laid out the pacing, I'm really excited to try it. Yep I'm in a happy place again when it comes to riding!!
Alright time to do the last be of bike work before bed. I think Dave will have a bit of work tomorrow.
Later
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