Bake Shop

After watching it rain for a couple days the race scheduled for Sunday was not looking good. Still unsure of whether I was going or not I checked the rain report from up there and they only had gotten .10 in of rain. Hoping for the best Jacob and decided to go for it. I guess maybe we were both itching to race.

The race went very well for me. I had a crappy start though, I must have bumped my shifter waiting at the start line so when the gun (yes they used a gun) went off I started hammering only to get hosed with my chain stuck between gears. After a couple of shifts I was back in my right gear and chasing the field. The first climb into the singletrack was a tough switchback so with lots of guys dismounting I just hopped off and ran most of it. That was easier than getting on and off numerous times. I rode with Jacob and Ron for a little bit and finally Jacob told me to pass him as he wasn't feeling good (not a good day for Jacob). From there I was off to chase Ron who had gained some distance on us. I caught him in a few minutes and then passed him after he didn't make it up a climb. That was the last I saw of them. I rode by myself for a while until I saw Nick Wooley and another Toyota team rider within reach. I finally caught them at the start of lap two. Feeling good I passed them both but wasn't able to drop them. I think I over did it and Nick was able to pass me again and I was back chasing. We all three hung together and shortly before we hit the last downhill back to the finish we asked if any of us was wanting to make a move (genteman thing to do). No one did so we bombed down the face of the ski hill towards the finish. On the last flat towards the finish I pulled up besides Nick and asked if he wanted to "sprint for it", getting what I assume to be a head nod we were off. I took him by about a bike length and I had that great numb feeling in my thighs that you get from a sprint like that.

I haven't seen the official results but I did place 3rd in the Sport Open class. My goal was to at least hang with a few guys who raced Sport last year but actually beating a few of them felt good. I also won $5 which is my first revenue I've gotten back from racing. No profit yet though. : -)