<br>

ft. ord
2005/10/09
cat b
1st(!)/25
teammates: joe

now this fast course really suited me. it was billed as being one of the fastest courses around, and boy was it. had to be careful not to enter almost every corner too hot. lowered the pressure in the new tubies a bit at dennis' suggestion, and they stuck just fine.

got a good starting position in the front row even though they didn't do call ups. got off the line and over the first set of high speed barriers in the lead. it's a rush to have all that energy behind you, even if it's not sustainable. i let some of the other hard starters by before we hit the dirt. didn't want to pull the whole pack through the first flats. i was content to settle into my rhythm in about 5th place, which was 2 places better than my result in the first race.

we stayed pretty tight at the front the whole race. i don't think the leaders ever had more than 10 or 15 seconds on me in 5th. with 2 laps to go, i was happy to see 3rd and 4th coming back to me, so i focused on reeling them in, grabbing their wheels on the flats, and working my way past them. once i had an unobstructed view, i realized that it looked like 1 and 2 really weren't moving very fast. 'well this is interesting' i thought to myself, 'everyone is fading'. so i managed to reel them in with one lap to go. i think they were suprised to see me again. 2nd place bobbled his remount after the fast barriers with an expletive, so i grabbed the leader's wheel and was able to recover a bit on the flats before the descent to the parking lot. stuck to his wheel through the singletrack to the bottom, and was able to sneak by him as he fishtailed through the sandy corner at the bottom of the dirt power climb. gapped him enough so he couldn't get my wheel when the climb opened up to pavement, which was good, because i really needed to recover a bit if i was to have anything left to contend with at the finish. managed to keep it together through the dumb tree barrier and technical singletrack sections to get my hr back under control before the last uphill barriers and mad dash home. thought i had a couple seconds on him going into the final little paved climb, but he was right on me at the top. really tried to bury it through the last corners and twisty dirt so he couldn't get around. exited the dirt with him breathing down my neck and gave it all the gas i had left. i probably could have gotten a little more speed out of a bigger gear, but couldn't get the shift out. he started to come around next to me, but ran out of road. i threw the bike a bit but didn't really need to. had him by about a length. glad that finishing stretch wasn't any longer...

whew! 206 max on the hr monitor. this was my first time even leading a race after the initial dash, and it was a rush to get out front and realize that there was no one else ahead. kind of a trip.

so my fitness and speed are good. the races i've excelled at have had lots of extended pedaling and fast barriers. extended running and acceleration from slow speeds? not so much. so i'll be working on that during the week to try to bring up my slow game.

even though i didn't really run away with it, a win begs the question of upgrading again. i thought i might commit to doing surf city in the a's, but then realized that, based on my experience two years ago, aptos high is exactly the kind of course that i'm not so great at i don't think. spoke to coach scott about it, and he didn't think that would be a good way to debut. he said as long as i'm still learning a lot in the b's and am not showing up expecting to be top 5 every race, i should stay put, have fun, and learn as much as i can so i can apply it in the a's eventually. so that's my story, and i'm sticking to it. for now.

mad props to brett and aron for 3rd and 6th in the a's. and to all the a's for being out there for 8 long laps. bjm (the winner) was out there for 1:11 for crying out loud!

<br> - 5 laps is plenty