BCSP Dino

Today was the Brown County Dino race. This was the first time I had been on my mtb since the Death March. Not exactly the training I should be doing for XC racing. I am sure the road miles help, but they do not keep my technical riding. I did a lot of changing around on the bike over the last week. I was having lot of issues last night. The shifting was not working well and both brakes were dragging. I did all the adjustments I could and had it as good as I was going to get it.

I was not sure what to expect and didn't have high hopes. I knew the start would tell me how the day would end up. Just as I figured, the climb at the start sucked. I was trying to go as fast as I could and still maintain my heart rate. It was a good idea, but it didn't work to well. I didn't warm up good enough and before I climbed too much my heart rate was out the roof. I was not doing too bad until the final climb. That put the hurt on me. Once I hit the trail I was still sucking some serious wind and not riding as well as I needed to and was pretty far back in the pack.

Eventually I started to feel better and could ride much stronger. I was very happy with my ability to go on the down hills. I did have a few moments that I thought I was going to hit the ground. I was very happy with how well the bike worked. I guess it was just a little rusty from the long vacation. The brakes still made some noise, but I think they quit dragging. I was also happy that my new front tire hooked up as well as it did. There were a lot of fast corners and it didn't wash out.

Overall I really can't complain about how the day went. I would have liked to do better, but I really have not been training as much as I need. I am just happy that I stayed upright and rode as strong as I did for the second half of the race. I ended up in 18th for age group and took 7 minutes off of last years time. The only thing with that is that the turn out was down and there was also a new section so I am sure there was a difference in the distance. I know what I need to work on and just need to put the time in. Hopefully the next race goes a little better.