I woke up that morning with my legs already hurting. I felt like I went for a big ride the day before, but I have not been on the bike all week. This was not a good sign. I got ready and headed to the venue as early as I could. With Nick having to work, I had picked up the canopy's and was in charge of getting them set up. I showed up in plenty of time to get a good parking spot and a good place to get the tents and bike rack put up.
With all the setting up and catching up with a few people, I was not ready as early as I should have been to allow me to go do the short cut loop. At this point I was not sure it if would help or hurt me even more. I was just not feeling the way I had hoped I would. Since I didn't head out for my warm up and could no longer contain myself, I had to have a little Man Eater. What could it hurt?
There was a good turn out for the 40-49 class at the start line (seemed like more than the results show). I took off pretty good, but didn't want to get too far up there with the way I felt. I was probably sitting mid pack as we hit the woods. There was a long train heading up the hill. I passed a couple of people and let some by. I was trying to find my comfort area and keep moving. I knew I didn't have the legs and had plenty of time yet. I was not riding bad at all for how I felt, well that was until one of the last bigger climbs on the blue section. I was still climbing, but my legs were really feeling it and I slowed down.
I did well in the flatter sections and the parts that went down hill. Other than that I was not real happy with myself. I would have people come up on me pretty quick and some that passed only for me to almost run in to them as soon as the trail went down hill. I guess the good thing for me is there are only a couple sections where the climbing was an issue and a lot more places where I was going down hill.
The results have me listed in 18th in age group (it was 17th yesterday, so hard telling). I guess that does not sound too bad, but not really where I want to be at all. I don't figure I would be a contender with out a lot more training, but I would like to get closer to the top 10 overall. I really think it would be a possibility if I could just get some more time on the bike. Bike time is hard to come by depending on everyone's schedule. It seems like the season is in full swing and too late for me to improve as much as I would like yet this year. I am sure I could get faster, but not sure I can shave a minute a mile off in the next few weeks while I race every weekend at the same time. Oh well, it is what it is.
The times on the results do have me actually going faster this year than last year. Not by much, but at least it was faster. The trend for everyone else was that this years time was slower. Even the winning time was a few minutes slower than last year. Not sure what would cause that since the trail should have been faster than the wet trail we had last year. I also don't remember any new sections that would have added time. Not sure what the reason is for that. One option is that the timing chips record the times differently than they used to. We will have to see if this trend continues on other trails that we race the same as last year.
I did pick up some disc brakes this weekend and hope to get them on the bike soon. The set I was putting on the SS has the front brake hose too short for my bike, so I guess I will learn how to deal with that this week. If the parts are not here, I just might have to put the other set on that bike. I sure hope they make a change for the good in my riding. I am sure if I can stop better, I should be able to go faster. We shall see.
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