Race 3 Outback Blowout

Week 3 finds us in Waco, a really sweet, fast, technical trail. I'm currently sitting in 1st place after 2 races and feel pretty good. I was on a shoot the last 3 days....most of that spent standing, but I still feel pretty strong. The geared bike is still down, so I will be on the single speed again. This could be a problem as this start is more suited to the guys with gears.

As I predicted.......the start killed me. I did get the jump...off to an early lead......for about 50 yards. The feild starts to catch and pass me and I enter the single track around 10th. This first part is very fast with no places to pass. I have no trouble hanging with the lead group, I'm actually trying to get by a couple of guys that are holding me back in the tight stuff. I start to get more aggessive, and pass a few guys in the trees......then pass a couple more during a rocky climb. A guy goes down in front of me and I get past him.......another climb.....I pass 3 more before we reach the top. Now, I'm on the tail of the second place dude. I've caught up to him and am hanging on his rear tire...........we hit a climb with a technical turn at the top. He takes the easier outside line.......I dive in tight and pass him. After a little while, I can see the first place guy through the trees and am gaining on him. SisSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, front tire starts spewing air. I ride it till it is almost coming off the rim........pull out my CO2 and hit it. I try to mess with where the air is leaking and get it slowed down. So I hop back on, but I have just watched most of the guys I passed fly by.

The tire is still going down, but more slowly, and I manage to finish the first lap and come into the feed zone.....again riding the rim. Do I put in a tube.....naw, lets fill it and see if I can get it stopped. I do get it to seal.........the tire is a little softer that I'd like but I'm out of CO2.....and I do not have time to mess with it. So, off I go trying to retake those that got ahead of me. I hit a lot of traffic but am making good passes.......some of them even in my group. I now have no idea of where I stand but just keep hammering it. I do pass a couple more Sport 50+ guys and finish in 6th place, just 4 minutes out of 1st. This is a 1st or 2nd place finish that got away, but I am happy I did finish and got some points!! I am still in first for the series......but only by 7 points instead of the 13 I had going into this race. The guy in second place overall took 4th today......good job dude.

There are 3, maybe 4 guys that could win this series. Luckily I'm one of them. I really have to stay strong and problem free for the remaining races. My good friend Steve finished 3rd and moved closer to me.....he also missed the first race and I'm skipping the next. If he does well there........could make things interesting. I wish him the best as he is a great guy and has gotten alot faster since last year. This is my best shot at the Championship Jersey, (most likely Steve's as well), if we have 5 top 5 finishes....we will both be moved to expert. No matter how I finish the series (be it 1st, 2nd, 3rd....hopefully not worse.....LOL)......if I have my place locked up......I will move to expert for the last race of the season.

Race 2....Bar-H Bash

Terlingua was Feb, 16th.......2 weeks later comes Bar-H on March 2nd. Then Waco in two weeks, these are 3 of the hardest trails and we hit them....1-2-3.....whew!

I do a nice pre-ride on the SS of course, in right at 1 hour. Sat. afternoon I help with the registration for a few hours, then head over to get the Paragon ready. I'm dusting it down and find a crack going 3/4 of the way around my bottom bracket. I only ride it at races, and hadn't been on it since Terlingua. I guess the rocky downhill took it's toll, probably had a small stess crack that I hadn't seen. Well, I'm out on the geared bike but thankfully have the SS. Of course this trail has a ton of climbing, much of it loose and rocky, and all my competition with have gears. But I still feel I can get a top 10, maybe squeze out a top 5. My biggest fear is the mile long downhill start......everyone will be in the bigring and I'll be lucky to hit the singletrack towards the back.......fighting my way to the front.

So, there are 17 of us lined up as the whistle blows, and I stand up and hammer it with all I've got. I take the hole shot, and hit the first turn (about 50 yards out) in first, sweep it and pedal till I start spinning out. At this time all I can do is lean forward and try to pick up momentum. Thanks to not being afraid of downhills, or loose dirt, I stay well in first place all the way to where it flattens out. Un-able to gain any more monmentum, 4-5 guys pass me as we get with-in 100 yards of the single track. I re-take 2 of those before we hit the first climbs, then catch and pass the others with-in the first mile of singletrack. Shortly after this I start to catch racers from the groups that went off before us. Usually this takes a little longer, but we used 1minute splits as opposed to the normal 3 minutes. This is one of the places I shine....passing, some people are to timid.....I charge and pass aggressively. I got to do something here I've never gotten to do before. Yell "lead rider coming though" as I passed. It's not much, but man, did it feel good. Next we hit Hole in the Tree, a really fast rolling downhill section that I know will help we extend my lead. This is pretty much how the next several miles/minutes go......catch riders, pass riders, catch riders, pass riders.

I am now on my second lap, I've made the first 2 hard climbs and am pushing it up the final climb on Horseshoe to the overlook. Another racer in my class rides past me......crap! I knew the climbs would be my undoing, but figured if I could keep the lead till after Splitears and BOIA, no-one could catch me. At this point there were still quite a few hard climbs to make, and I had no way of knowing how close the 3rd place guy was. So, do I hammer it and challege this guy, maybe blow-up and be overtaken by someone behind. Or, hang with him best I can, protecting second place, and challenge him toward the end. I stayed with him, which was hard as he had the gears for climbing. I never let him get out of my sight......even pulled to with-in 20 yards several times. I thought I could make up ground on the downhills coming up. When we hit the end of Hole-in the Tree, he was like 30-40 seconds in front. Dang, he was a good downhiller as well. He kept that distance all the way to the end and finished 35-40 seconds in first. Again, gears at that last section might have made a difference......but still second place on a SS was sweet. Turns out, the 3rd place racer was a good 2.5 minutes behind......I could have challenged him sooner without the fear of being caught, even if I did burn out some trying.

Monday morning, drop bike at B&B Bikes so they can send the frame to Fisher. It looks like I will most likely be racing Waco on the SS, unless, somehow they get the frame back in time. But I am very familiar with the trail and have done it with a 34-18 and will run a 34-20 for the race. I am now confident that I can hold my own even on the SS......but as the climbing is substantal there, I'm hoping for the 1x9er to be ready. But that is part of racing......you do what you have to get to the finish line.