Thanks to Karl for the photo
I maybe should have switched out to the race king tires instead I went with the Mountain Kings, including the monster 2.4 up front, the weight is not a problem at Cholla, but the rolling resistance probably didn't help.
I lined up on the right side of the start, thinking it would help me avoid the pinch on the hard left not 10 yards from the start, of course it put me right into a boulder strewn rut on that short DH, which shot me to the back of the pack immediately. This made for some interesting riding/passing in the first 1/4 mile, due to the Dust cloud/ zero visibility, I was riding in. Onto the slickrock I was in about 10th or so, and just kept a steady pace, had fun and opened it up a bit on the DH sections.
Into the rock of doom section I saw 4 people already on the side of the trail with flats, then over the next rise a few more, including Trent W. Later, Bobby Lincoln was off the side of the double track with some mechanical. I think I was then in 7th. Lynda W. passed me a bit later, she was motoring. I came through the lap zone alone and went out for lap 2. about halfway into lap 2 Kathy was closing on me, I just kept steady again and a few miles from the lap zone caught up with Ken, pulled him for a bit and Kathy came around me, we came into the feed at the same time and Dusty flawlessly got us both bottles. Then Kathy proceeded to pull away as the 3rd lap went on.
At almost exactly the same spot he went by me it 2009, I passed Tim W, but he had an exploded seat instead of exploded legs. He held on for a while, but I built a gap, Trent W was a bit behind him, I had one speed left, I knew if I tried an attack, to widen the gap, that I would blow, so I just kept it steady, I also knew that when the short steep rise came, I would not be able to do anything but spin up it, Trent got by me here, I then soft peddled into the finish, 7th place.
Happy with the result, because I raced smart and consistent, Laps 1 and 2 were both right at 32.5minutes and lap 3 was just over 34.
Right on track.....
Post race I meandered over to Over the Edge for Coffee, then dinner with E-Pow, Dusty, Shannifer, Kathy, Lucy, Quentin, DJ and Dave.
Sunday we did the Goulds, Jem, Hurricane Rim loop, Kathy crushed me.
2 comments:
Maybe I read that wrong but did you say there is actually a course that is good for big wheels?
Bob is not ready to go all in. He is going to take it one course at a time.
Of course as "we" all know, he will soon find out that big wheels are good for all courses.
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