I actually placed pretty well considering I haven't done any serious racing in a long time. 17th out of 50 racers. I definitely think some of that had to do with a really solid start position. This week I got caught up in the middle of the pack and by the time the first 30 guys get stretched out onto the single track the top racers have already probably got a couple of minutes on you. But more on this week's race a little later.
The day after the short track J and I went out to Red Mountain which is a natural area about 45 minutes north, right at the Wyoming border. Now...a few mountain bikers mentioned Sandstone when we first got here and J talked to a park ranger that was surprised that no one had mentioned Red Mountain (which directly borders Sandstone). Well...we found out why. Red Mountain was kind of miserable. The trail was either horse-width loose double track or really grainy riverbed. There was one short section of nice buff interesting trail but it did not make up for the rest of the garbage. Now, I could have been a little down on the place because I was sluggish from the previous day's race...but I don't think so.
So, no riding Thursday but I played a lot of polo on Friday. 2 1/2 hours of 2 on 2. The weather was perfect and we played a LOT of polo. With only 4 people on the court, you get a lot of play time in. All that did was set me up to again be sluggish when scouting out some new trail the next day.
On Saturday we went into Wyoming to check out Curt Gowdy State Park. It's a little over an hour away and has got some really cool trail features. I think we only saw about half of the trails, and by the time we figured out the map, we had already run the race course in reverse. There were some really cool rock sections and "play areas" to be explored. It's nice to have some Porcupine Rim style stuff so close. Now, it's not as epic or nearly as technical as Porcupine but it's definitely got some cool features worth checking out. I think it makes it a great spot for a wide mix of skill levels.
So...back to Tuesday and back to the short track. I was feeling pretty sluggish all day, but I decided to suck it up and head out to the short track anyway. Last week I got a really good position on the start line but this week was a little different. As we all piled onto the start, I was somewhere in the middle of a huge pack. There's a picture of the start group (64 racers) to the right. I took my time and pretty much decided just to tempo the race...until the end of lap 2. That's when the Langster reared his head again. He passed me at the end of lap 2 and I managed to stick on his for the rest of the race but I couldn't get the pass on him...not this week. But, rest assured...I'll be eating my Wheaties and will be primed for next week. I've been riding the hardtail for the last two weeks, and it's been fine but I think it's time to bring out the big dog. The FSR should be able to squash all the little annoying bumps on the course and rail the corners. Here's a sweet shot of me powering one of the climbs.
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