8/29 STL Dirt Crits #8, 2cd.

 Seemed like sort of a best of the rest race without the Big Shark Geezer Trio in attendance, but turned out to be a pretty fast race by any standard. A little bit of rain tacked up the track nicely since I was dialing in the new bike there on Tuesday and even though the heat index was still 100, it felt much less imposing than the 110 on Tuesday. It was a smaller field and I was lined up early to be on the front row. Good start and into the woods behind Bowen. Everything was moving really slowly, similar to last week but last week I was in damage control mode the whole race so it was a bit more frantic. I remember the really good hockey games where everything just slows down so much feels like a video game your good at. I think all the time I've spent on the mtb in the last few months and the new bike have helped dramatically. 

After the StL start we settled in and I was able to recover on Bowens wheel for a bit. I want to say there was a group of about 10 of us that separated. Bowen pulled off after the first lap and I was happy to have clean line of sight and get warmed up. After a lap or two on the front James jumped hard and I covered. Lots of power was drained. He pulled off and I was back in the front. Maybe midway through the race we were down to a group of 5, but I didn't ever really look back.  I think Bowen might have taken another half a lap as well as Devon, but otherwise I was either 1 or 2 wheel the whole race. 

With 3 to go I was expecting fireworks but instead of leading it out remained patient and stayed on the front setting a consistent pace and not burning too many matches out of the corners. No moves were made. With 2 to go we were down to 4 of us and I did more of the same. I was really expecting a strong surge of a few guys but it never came. On the last lap I went all in to prevent anyone from coming around me, riding on the rivet. When we hit the last grass opening on the backside I made the move and shut Bowen down and was able to hold it all the way through the wide section before the drop in. We came on a lapped rider on the short hill before the finishing straight who went left before going back to the right to let us pass and it got a little dicey. Shock locked, out of the saddle spring from there on. Bowen came around me and clipped my bar hard but we both stayed up. Last lap was the fastest of the race by almost 10 seconds.  Same finishing time but he got me by a bike length.

43:43 was the fastest time for the CCW races on the new course this year. I thought for sure it was a slower race and was happy to have some validation that I can hang at the front of one of these. The new bike is just sick. At race pace, the 47 degree head angle floats far less than at lower speeds and I don't think there could be a better bike for me. Really happy to be mountain bike racing again!!! 

8/22 STL Dirt Crits #7, 6th place.

 Weather was perfect; dry and cool. Easy on the lungs. Big race. Aside from Brody, I can't think of anyone who has won one of these recently that wasn't there and knew warming up it was going to be a flamethrower of a race. The track was hard and super fast. I made the major mistake of lining up late and ended up in the second row, which was a major mistake. The guy in front of me couldn't clip in and I hit the woods somewhere 15-20 back. John Rines was behind me but was far more assertive passing and moved up quicky. I tried not to overact and slowly moved up to 8th or 9th. There was quite a bit of carnage going on and at one point Tom and I were hauling the mail through the straight and he went sideways were it dropped back in to the right. Fortunately, I made it around him, not over him and moved on. For the middle section of the race I was in no man's land but keeping roughly the same distance to the lead group. With maybe 4 to go James and Ian must have had a mishap and I passed James and latched onto Ian. We went back and forth for the last 3 laps and when we came though on what I thought was the bell lap I heard "OK A racers, you can do one more lap" which I took as we were doing an extra lap, not the last lap. Ian jumped me in the grass on the far end of the course and I was content ride his wheel and feeling good. When we hit the start finish straight I  sat on his wheel in what I thought was going to be the last lap, no effort to sprint and relatively relaxes, only to pass through the start finish and realize it was over. Rookie mistake. A little bummed I missed out on fighting for the last podium spot, but it's my fault! Great race, happy with what I was able to do. 

8/11 UFD Indian Camp Creek, 5th

 Big field with a lot of fast dudes. Didn't know what to expect since this was a super power heavy course with little climbing and after pre-riding it didn't feel like it suited me all that much. I was feeling pretty relaxed and rested, which was odd given the field, and my game plan to be in the front-ish going into the woods which were super tight and nowhere to pass until the first field section. I got a good jump so kept going and led it out, knowing I'd lose spots in the field and could set the pace without anyone coming around me. 

 I think I was sitting in 7th after the field and was not really able to respond the way I needed to. I maintained contact with Devon, Jimmy, Harre and Brody going into lap 2. Harre went down and Devon and I moved up staying in contact with Brody and Jimmy. 

By lap 3 Tom caught us and I wasn't able to hang with him after a wash out before the field on the back of the course. I couldn't catch him but he was dangling in front of me. Don't remember exactly.

Coming through into the last lap I passed Brody, could not see Harre behind me and had Jimmy and Tom within 10 seconds or so. I caught Devon before the start/finish and then he stopped for a bottle and I passed. Going into the first field section Jimmy was about 5 seconds in front of me with Tom another 5 ahead. I assumed Jimmy was bogging down but he had crashed and Tom passed him. They pulled away in the field and gapped me quickly. Exiting the field I couldn't see Harre, Brody or Devon. Pretty uneventful until the stretch between the field in the back and road crossing to the bottom when I came up on a Grenada rider who refused to let me pass. This went on for some time until I went from asking nicely to telling him to move. In retrospect and after seeing the lap times, this made a pretty big difference. Fortunately, I never was caught by Brody or Harre but lost a lot of time waiting. 

Overall I was super happy with the way I raced. There's no way I could have won that and Jimmy and Tom defintely out powered me, which I would have expected. Happy to be able to hold off Harre and Brody. 

Overall, I believe that maybe second to one of the Landahl races in 2008, this was the biggest MO mtb race I've been to, which is awesome. So many (fast!!) kids and a really well done event. Great to be a part of it!

8/4 UFD Thrill at Matson Hill, DNF.

 Originally planned I wasn't going to race thinking that taking nearly a full rest week with two nights of partying at Phish on Tues and Wed wasn't the best idea but after doing a few laps there couldn't resist. It was going to be a hard, hot race and I thought it suited me. 

Took Mon-Wed completely off and did a little too much partying. Felt pretty good and rode a few hours on Thurs after work and then another easy hour on Friday. Sat morning I did another few hours with a few efforts and then the tired hit me and I was couch locked all afternoon watching the Olympic Road Race. Sun morning was still pretty tired but got a good warm up in and was psyched there were some fast dudes there. 

Not sure how I feel about the downhill start but I took the hole shot and my plan was to try to hit the top of the climb first so I wouldn't get gapped on the downhill. I had things pretty strung out right away but it wasn't until near the top of the climb that any gaps opened up and then Jimmy, Tom and Will latched on for the downhill. Things were far different at race pace and when we took the drop at the bottom I was amazed and  how fast we went over it. Could have been bad news.

After the descent I realized I had lost my nutrition bottle, which was somewhat of a problem, but I had a bottle with water and extra gels so wasn't too worried. 

On the climb up to the lot I was able to gap both Tom and Jimmy and will was gone. I think I probably had 5-10 seconds on them which I lost on the descent. The three of us were riding the bottoms/tech sections more or less together when I nailed something with my rear wheel sometime around the bottom. Immediately I thought I had broken my rim but it was just a big burp which I tried to keep riding thinking I might be able to get to the start finish and use a pump which would save me time. The tire kept losing pressure and I was forced to stop and try to CO2 it. First time using this since I bought the MTB and it blew a rubber seal or something and all the air came out at once. Tried to ride a bit more and the tire came unseated. Jog/walked to the finish, tried to reseat to see if I could catch a few people but no such luck. Game over. 

7/21 UFD Show Me State Games @ Rock Bridge, 2cd Overall (1st age group - that's the way they scored it)

Another good race. Took it pretty easy all week since I wasn't feeling recovered from the race in the heat on Sunday and skipped my big workout and Dirt Crits. Definitley felt a little flat or tired, not sure which. I'm guessing just tired from a stressful week and a long hr plus warm up because I wanted to pre-ride the course.  I'm glad I did becuase I remembered 0% from the last time I raced there in 07. Far more technical and challenging than I was expecting, which I liked.

Bob was talking about letting following Josh around for a lap but I had zero fucks to be given to that idea and had a great start and was first in the woods. Overcooked a few things here and there but mainly kept it together. The young kid with long hair that reminded me of a 90's hair band came around me about 5 mins in, which was fine by me. He got a little gap on one of the downhills but I was able to recover, probably moreso since I was able to ride his wheel through the flats, which were a blast. He dabbed after the creek and I went around him.

I was riding a good pace up the climb which was apparently hard enough to drop everyone but Marc, which I didn't realize until we hit the gravel road. We had a pretty gone line of sight through the big field and couldn't see anyone chasing, which I was super suprised by. 

I think Marc passed me on the climb to the start finish and put a pretty good gap into me right away. I had no idea who he was our what to expect and just kept pushing. I bogged down a little on lap two but lap one was so fast we had a pretty good cushion. Lap 1 was 35:18. Nutrition was good, legs were pretty good and I was riding well. I didn't see anyone at all on lap 2 which was my slowest at 37:01. 

Lap 3 was more of the same but I was able to push pretty hard and motivated to finish strong, which I did. Lap 3 was 36:53.

Really happy with the way I raced and the result. What a fantastic course. Definitely worth the trip. Planning on trying to get a big workout in this week and some long mountain bike rides next weekend and taking a rest week after that. Seems like a lot of racing in a short period of time and need a little reset.