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!!!
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