Kentucky Points Series Race at Waverly

Wow. I don't think I have ever ridden trails as buff as Waverly. This place is 100% dirt singletrack bliss.

MJ and myself drove down after work on Saturday and stayed with my boy Rusty in Louisville. Rusty stayed up for us and had two beds all setup so all we had to do was crash. It was pretty awesome. The next morning he had coffee all ready to go and we hung out and chatted it up with Ben Richardson who is one of Kentuckys fastest riders. Then it was time to get down to business. It was business time.

We got over to the venue and quickly realized that it was some sick trail and damn hilly. I don't really know when I lost track of time but I heard someone say it was 10:30 and the race started at 11. I slithered into my skinny suit and got in a quick warm up. The legs weren't there, they were heavy and not turning over well so I tried to open them up a little bit and rode the first section of the course up until a monster of a climb that I knew was going to hurt.

I headed over to the start finish after a short warm up and stood around for way too long stretching. It wasn't too hot out and I think I cooled down a bit too much but wanted to make sure I got a spot on the front row because it was a crazy start that snaked around and then went over this weird dirt mound with only one line through the middle of it.

I got into the woods in 5th or 6th and quickly moved up to 4th and watched as Ben Richardson and Anthony opened up a gap on us. There wasn't any place for me to get in front of the Barbasol rider in front of me so I remained patient and was having some problems with the dust. When we hit the big climb I got dropped by him and his teammate who was pushing a huge gear on a single speed. My legs were shot and I didn't have any power, too much last week for sure. At the top of the climbing section of the course I had passed one guy and was closing in on the SS rider when I hit a tree pretty hard with my shoulder and a gap opened up and he was out of sight.

My second lap sucked. I was having a really hard time breathing and was choking on dust that I couldn't get out of my throat. I was really bummed since my goal was to have stayed with the front two riders for a couple laps. I didn't have any rabbit to chase and started to worry about the guys from behind me, but started to get some of the lines figured out a little and was riding ok. As I came through at the start of the third lap I caught a glimpse of two guys entering the start finish area as I was leaving it and decided I better pick it up and downed some Rooster Booster.

Halfway through the 3rd lap I caught sight of the singlespeed rider and was able to count him at about 30 seconds in front of me. When we hit the flow section of the course I opened up what I had on the big ring and chased like a mo'fo. I didn't see him as I came through the start finish but when I hit the base of the climbing section I heard the Super Fan screaming up ahead and knew I was getting close. I looked up as I neared the top to see him walking his bike and knew it was over; he had been crushing me on the climbs and I knew I had the course pretty dialed at this point... it was business time for real. I was flossing the trail like Oral B so I worked my way up to him and then attacked him before the fire road descent and opened up a gap that would continue to grow for the rest of the lap.

I put about a minute into him in the last 3 miles to take the expert overall win. It was a really hard day for me and the legs were not quite there so I was pretty happy with the effort but a little disappointed to learn that I was 5 minutes off of Anthony and 4 minutes behind Ben. MJ ended up taking 3rd in the 19-29 age group, CC won the 19-29 sport and the Schwick took 2cd in the same class. Not too bad when 4/4 from the team podium.

I am sitting here tonight with a G&T pretty sore and banged up. I can't thank Rusty enough for taking care of us. Any of you guys want to come race in the Lou just let me know. It was a tough race and I'm feeling it. I have to tell you, with cool courses, a great atmosphere and some good peeps the Kentucky Points Series is going to be on my calendar more next season. I bet this thing grows into a DINO caliber series. Awesome.

+2 points for a super clean Taco Hell on the ride home, +2 points for a DQ that actually flips the Blizzard to show how they are tricky, but -2 points for a lack of minty fresh in the Girl Scout Cookie Blizzard. Since it was the Blizzard of the month in July, it's a little washed up now.