Pedal Faster

That was what I needed to do in yesterday's mountain bike race. I can definitely say that the legs were not the best they could have been.

Thursday and Friday we had some serious rain come through town and completely drenched the course. Luckily by friday evening the showers had stopped and clouds were breaking up. Saturday brought mostly clear skies and some decent temps. However the damage had already been done. The rain had totally changed the course and not for the better.

Friday evening I found myself scrambling to throw on my old tires, since they would favor me better in the mud. I am truly happy that I did and for Shawn to agree with me. I am even happier that they held up and I did not get a flat tire or have any problems.

I had a decent start and passed a good number of riders before hiting the trail. From there it seemed that was pretty much the race. I had 2 riders pass me early on the trail but never got away from me. I passed them back before the last stretch of trail and never looked back. I never came across any others riders for maybe the last 20 minutes of the race. I guess I should have tried to push it a little more. Considering that I did feel weak a few times maybe it's just good that I had some power gel and that I did not finish further back than I did. The rain drenched course slowed everyone's times. However I did manage to finish faster than last year and one place better. 5th is not the worst but I definitely had hoped for higher. At least that is over with and now onto the next challenge of cyclocross next weekend in Albuquerque.

I am happy to say that the race also was not a total loss. Two of my riding buddies faired much better. Al Saiz, ended up winning his catergory. His brother Daryl took second in his catergory. Congrats to them and hopefully I can be up there with them next year.

I will post a link for the results once they get it on the road apple site.
Ciao