The only real thing I didn't care for was the fact that the race was on Sunday. This was not a deal breaker since the race was fairly close to home, but it does make me drive home after the race. I headed over Saturday afternoon and got there in time to get a good spot for the pit tent. The other racers in the group showed up and we went for a lap to check the trail out. It had been a couple years since I have been here. The course was different then the last race. It was a pretty fun loop with a plenty of variety. After the ride we headed to The 857 Taproom and Grill to eat and re-hydrate. It was a real nice place and good service.
Hanging out for the rest of the evening was fun and I even got a pretty good night sleep. I came in to this race with very low expectations. I am not riding as well as I was last year and had really slowed down a lot since Lumberjack. I have been trying to get back in to the groove and get stronger, but my legs have just not been responding. I also knew there were some really fast guys signed up for the SS class, so even if I was riding well, it would take a great day or a mechanical on their part to beat them. I was really just here to support the ride and get some good training in for Fools Gold and BT Epic.
Photo credit: @lauralou644 |
The morning moved along pretty quickly. I made my coffee, ate breakfast and did the last minute things to my bike to get ready. As normal on race mornings it seems like you have a ton of time only to be running around last minute to get to the line. Since I was running a little late to the racer meeting, this unknowingly put me in a great place to get a good starting position. I didn't want to be in the front row, but I did want to be fairly close to it. I know my bike of choice can be an issue on the wide open prelude lap, but I also wanted to be right behind the fast guys when we hit the trail so I can minimize the conga line.