Redemption!

OK, remember last Thursday the local team in town put on race #1 in the weekly mtb TT. Well as some of you might remember that I went the wrong way and was DNF from the event. Not really a huge deal since the entry fee is only $1 and the event is pretty low key. Well...last night was race #2. The weather all week has been dry and hot. Everyone was hoping for a dry and fast course. But the thuderstorm gods had other ideas. From Wednesday night till about 5 hours till start time we had on and off thudershowers. This was sure to make the course a grease pit.

Buchanandale and myself saddled up on our RUSH's at 5 PM to spin out our legs before the TT, and to scope out the course. We rode down to Hudson and then tempo'd back to the back half of the TT course. We ducked into the trees and were greeted with moist condiditons. The course was slick in spots but not as bad as the Sugar Creek 12 Hr. The mud was damp enough to clog my training tire (Maxxis LarsenTT) up with enough mud to hinder cornering performance. We rode the course back to the start line and then registered. I dropped my PSI in my tires down about 3 PSI before the start. I was running 30 PSI in the front, and about 32 in the rear. The seemed to work well during the race.

The TT started at 6:30. I was the first guy to go off, since thye start riders based on their speed and skill. My goal was to win, but I also wanted to stay upright and get in a last hard effort before the 12 hour race this weekend. The course is 4 miles and i knew that i could ride at red-line for the duration of the TT. I left the start block and fumbled to get into my pedal. Once in I turned it up. Instantly hitting the big ring for the first half of the course. There was a couple times where I about ate it. I had to unclip and stick a foot out to keep for feeding on the mud. I though for sure that these 2 bobbles would cost me time to Rob H. and Buchanandale. About 60% of the way through the course I saw my first chaser. It was Buchanandale...but where was Rob who had started 30 sec. behind me? The 2nd half of the course gets a bit tighter and greasier. I dropped out of the big-ring and continued to ride at the point of no return. It hurt.

I was flowing pretty good. There was more than one time I about over shot corners and had to regain momentum. This caused the use of more effort than was needed. I am sure by next weekend we should all have the course dialed. My final time for the event was like 14 minutes and 15 some seconds...I think. 2nd place was Rob who came in like a minute and a half later. Buchanandale was 11 seconds behind him. Interesting this is that the course is slower this week, but the top 3 times are faster than the previous week where the course was much much drier. For a complete recap and official time, check out the Team Bike Tech site today.

As for the rest of my Friday...
Charge up all the batteries for the 12 hour race. Buchanandale and myself will be rock'n Double Shots. I also need to build up the 2nd Rush and go get race supplies such as nutrition and other items. Final item on the list is to take out the 2nd RUSH to make sure it's dial. Then it's travel time.

Oh, by the way...
Others agree with me 100%