That Roman Nose Thing

Well its been one week since the Roman Nose race and thought I better get something posted concerning the outcome. Considering all the rain in that area just afew days prior to the race, the trail was in pretty good shape.

Linda went off in the Cat 3 group at 9:00 am to do a single 8 mile lap. Her confidence and technical skills are really improving and this trail sets up nicely for her. The first half mile of the course is on asphalt and leads you to the bottom of a steep climb and another 1/2 mile of fast jeep trail. LJ is really fast of the start and this type of terrain is exactly what she needs. She had built a nice lead and quickly progressed across the dam and into the single track. LJ was able to maintain her position through Inspiration Point but shortly after departing that area she had a chain issue. It was not a serious problem and one that can fixed very quickly. However, I have failed to give her any instructions on how to make these types of simple repairs. So, what should have taken 15 seconds to fix
ended up taking her 4 minutes. During this time, the second place rider that she had built a good lead on, was able to close the gap and move out to what would be an insurmountable margin for Linda to overcome. LJ ended up winning her age group and and finishing 2nd overall in in women's Cat 3. Linda was happy with her finish but it was disappointing because she would have likely been 1st overall had it not been for those mechanical problems. Oh well, that's all part of racing.

As for me, I had set a goal of 90 minutes to finish my two laps and I was able to beat that time. However, that was not good enough for a top 5 finish. The Cat 2 class in the Tour De Dirt Race Series is extremely competitive and loaded with really good riders. Just the slightest mistake will cost you dearly. I made that mistake early on after crossing the damn and heading up into the single track. Their was a temporary river flowing through that area and I had some issues navigating through the water. I dropped from 2nd to 9th and was never able to regain much of that lost ground. Oh well, live and learn.

After recovering for afew days I was able to get in an awesome ride at Wilson on Thursday. LJ and I are headed back up there on Monday morning. I have some big racing events coming up in June and I will discuss these in detail on my next post.

Until then, "Stay Clipped In and Crankin".