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photo:keith defibre [bigger]

ft. ord
2005/11/13
cat b
2nd/24
teammates: joe

this race was held in the 'day camp' area of ft. ord. marking the 4th time i've raced there, and the 1st time i've been happy with my result. twice i've done my first race of the spring mtb season there with high hopes of improved form in the expert field, and twice i've languished at the back demoralized. in last year's 'cross race there, i was going pretty well when i crashed and packed my sti shifter with dirt and couldn't shift up anymore. so it was nice to find some love for the venue. it really is a fun 'cross course.

after two races i came into the day in second place in the series. murray swanson was racing and leading both the b's and the master 35+ b's. the combined master's field must have gotten too big though, and they moved the master b's to race with the b's (starting 30 seconds back) so he had to pick a battle. he decided to race master b's, so wasn't a factor. andrew hammond from specialized was in third, 3 points behind me. i enjoyed my first ever call-up. great to be in the front row. felt like the tufo's didn't bite so well on the loose gravelly uphill start, and i got off the line in 3rd behind hammond and david samples. samples won the first race in the series but missed the second, so was down in the standings a bit. i settled in behind them until we got to the pavement. hammond was in the lead but not working very hard, and i could hear the hordes coming up from behind. i decided i didn't feel like riding in a crowd today, so i surged passed the both of them and suprisingly built a bit of a gap without feeling over-extended. i enjoyed having the lead for a lap and a half, and was starting to have pipe dreams of riding away with it, until samples bridged up and caught me our third time up the dirt climb. i grabbed his wheel for a lap, but he surged away decisively the next time up, and i couldn't answer.

i rode the middle laps of the race alone in second place, trying to look ahead to samples while monitoring my pursuers, but not really making much progress on either. with 2 laps to go, logan loder, a baby-faced but strong, log-hopping junior who had already won a close junior race an hour earlier, started to gain on me, and i started to run scared. it was his first appearance in the b's, so my motivation (besides avoiding getting beaten by a junior) was to keep him between me and hammond to build a bigger gap in the points. i manged to hold him off by 10 seconds. props to him for the late race strength. hammond rolled in 6th, so mission accomplished.

points-wise, i should be leading the series now. samples is looking like the one to watch out for. if he makes it to the rest of the races in the series and gets his absense from the second race dropped, he will be a factor in the overall.

for the third time this season, i felt like i was starting to fade towards the end and lose time on my competition. chatting with joe while we were warming down, i think i narrowed it down to previous day nutrition. i've gotten into the habit of sleeping late, having a good late breakfast, but then not eating enough until dinner. i think i need to make sure i eat lunch the day before to top out my reserves. hopefully that will help me bite more into the top ten at the bigger races, and give samples more of a run for his money later on.

to be continued...

<br> - first loser