Saturday was Canton. 4 race early with plenty of time til the 3/4. We sign up for the 2nd race right aware before brains, fear, or common sense can get involved.
4 race has a huge turnout. Lots of MTBs. Start and 1st corner are not too sketchy. With a 30 minute duration. 3 laps seemed likely. I managed to slide back pretty quick and was feeling all right on the 2nd lap. I overcooked a turn on the bikepath and did the a full 14 year old on his first bmx bike worthy powerslide. Stayed upright so I felt OK. In one of the twisting sections later, I rolled my rear tire. Fuck. Pride cometh before the fall, and I had been a little too proud of my glue job holding up. So much for finishing this race. Walk back to the pits to discover that Nick has had his own malfunction a la Fabian Cancellara.
No big deal, there is a 2nd race to seek revenge, but wait.... a second race full of dudes way faster than you. Suddenly, the 3 hours til that race started weren't the relaxing chill time I had envisioned, but a countdown to destruction and trying desperately not to get lapped.
My mismatched tubulur/clincher combo for race number 2 did not bolster confidence.
I was off the back and solo pretty fast and it was sad how hard I had to work not to get lapped, but I didn't so small victory for me.
The course was long and had a little too much pavement, but was fun. The run up was pretty rad. My lack of speed and lone arrival at the run up garnered me some sweat accolades. Thom was always ready with a High Life hand up, but the fear of getting lapped put a stop those antics.
Here is a master on the run up. It was steep.
Good day out. Ate some hot dogs, did some racing, and most importantly.....It was sunny and almost 70! Nice change of pace compared to some of the other races this year.
Up to is Orchard Cross....
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