Just another race

This last week brought the usual and some closure. My world was fairly regimented. Work a 9 hr day followed by a two hr road ride. I wasn't even motivated enough to be aggressive, or maybe I was spent from Crystal Ridge and the heat at work.

As for the rest of the world, Karen and Sephie flew back out to Seattle as Karen's mom took a turn for the worse. A week or so later Janice had passed away peacefully with her family close to her. Karen seems to be handling it well and has her hands full as executor. They'll be back around the end of the month.

Last Saturday brought my usual schedule. Work overtime for 5 hrs and drive for 2 to the Suburu Cup race at Nordic Mountain. It was a nice morning but as I walked away from the job site it started to rain. It wouldn't stop until Monday. The races were flipped around soJesse and Marco had the virgin trails while I took to the sloppiness 3 hours later. The groove that was the trail was slick even with the Conti Vapor driving the Ferrous up the trails.

It was pouring rain at the start. Liz was nice enough to take our jackets and other clothes as we staged. It sure pays to be in the top 3 for call-ups. As we hit the second corner there was carnage immediately to my left. I'm not sure how many were caught up in it but it looked like a good portion of the Junior field. The single speeds had gridded to the right so Stuart and Rick were gone safely. So was Ryan and a few others as I had a slow start. But then so did everyone else for the first 2 or 3 miles. The trail was classic grid-lock. Nowhere to pass, no traction and no hurry. I was in front of Jim but immediately behind Josh. Josh was cracking me up. He'd drank the 29er Kool-aid before 24-9 and bought a nicely equipped Zion. The new steed must have been inspiring him to ride while others were walking up the slope. His front wheel pointed in his intended direction but his rear wheel spun until it was pointed roughly perpendicular to his direction of intended travel. He was giving it the berries all the while I'm walking behind (yes walking) giving him a narrative "c'mon Josh! you're doing great! Keep flinging that mud down the side of the hill!" It was like watching a crab ride a bike. Jim trotted past us and I jumped in behind with Josh still riding. A few corners later Jim lost his front end and I was able to get by for a while. Josh was close behind and I saw that peckerhead on his Surly. The red mist took over. I'd been in a fairly easy going mood until I saw him ahead of me by a few yards. I got back into a racing frame of mind and made short work of catching him and making a pass stick. Just when I was finding a groove Jim came steaming past me. Turns out he'd been riding there quite often so he must have had everything dialed. Good for him, truly.

By this time I finally had a mechanical issue to deal with. A race can't be complete this season without something failing. This race it was my front brake. I now had an over-sized BMX bike but I could slow down and steer with the rear. With all the mud stopping wouldn't have been an option anyway. The 34x22 was fine and I was making short work of the multis who had started in the wave in front. They were reduced to single speeds for the most part and by the end of the day I counted 4 broken rear deraileurs.

I kept on the gas and but my focus was on keep ahead of Josh and the Surly more than catching Jim or anyone else. Near the end of the last lap I saw the BKB jersey of Ryan and I could tell by his lack of speed his canti's were useless in the mud. He looked less than thrilled so I didn't chat and kept pushing all the way to the end.

The order of finish was different this race.
Eric Pompeo ... 1:18:43.4
Stuart Shelton ... 1:20:05.4
Rick Walls ... 1:20:47.6
James Sniadajewski ... 1:22:20.2
Roger Eckes ... 1:22:56.9
ME....... 1:24:53.2
Dave Volpentesta ... 1:26:11.3
Josh Giffey ... 1:29:03.1
And there were 5 others on single speeds.

I gotta get to bed, more on pre- and post-race activities tomorrow.