Video of the Cat 4 start at Melas Park Basin

Indian Lakes Resort Saturday 40+

For the second straight year at Indian Lakes i found myself running to the pit within a couple minutes of the start.  This time it was the result of being forced to take a bad line out of one of the sand traps and while it was obvious it was a steeper exit i still misjudged it and endoed over the bars and got run into from behind.  Somehow my rear wheel got dislodged from the dropouts and i couldn't get it back in so I found myself running.

Fortunately this time the pit was closer and i had a pit bike but still i was just about dead last before i got back on the course.  On the approach to the pit the second time of the first lap neutral support was there standing with my bike, rear wheel all ready to go so I swapped back to my main bike.  I spent a couple of laps trying to make up as many places as I could.  Wind was a huge factor so drafting on the stretches heading south was a must.

Then I fell victim to trying to run too low of tire pressure.  I'm still running clinchers and love the challenge Open Tubulars.  I am also trying the latex innertubes and was thinking i could get away with a little lower tire pressure with the latex tube.  I did 35psi on the rear but about lap 3 on the approach to the sand traps a section of the clincher bead came dislodged from the rear tire and I was forced to run the same section to the pit again.  Switched to my pit bike and finished the race on that, trying to catch and pass the same 10 or 15 guys i had chased the first half of the race.

I ended up 36th and actually still had a ton of fun.  The SRAM support was awesome and only today did i realize I ended up with a new skewer on my rear wheel that i need to return.  I felt better than i thought i would given that I was racing on 4 1/2hrs of sleep due to having to work really late the night before.  It was actually a nice little experiment on how to prepare myself during the week for something like this.  I just made sure i got lots of sleep during the week.  If I hadn't had the mechanicals it's hard to say wether I would have felt the same riding further up in the field but all in all it was a good race.  I also really shortened my warmup and race day prep so i could get more sleep and I think that could have contributed to the mechanicals as I didn't have the time to go over the bike as well as I normally do.

Psycho Cross 40+

Teamie Greg during the 30+ race

I went into this race determined to move up as far as i could at the start and then see what happens.  Long story short I found myself in the top 10(i think) for about a lap before I lost power.  Then it was a case of me just trying to hold off anyone I could for the rest of the race.

I ended up finishing 19th which is exactly the same position I got last year and equals my best ever official finish in a masters race. I had 12th at Campton last year before my derailleur exploded 600m from the finish but I digress. So with about half the training time and clogs to 20lbs extra weight I equal my best finish ever with more racers this year than last year. Go figure.

Bar cam vid.  I'm in around 9min. but the first lap is much more interesting.