Finally a podium with a third place finish. This is the first placing this year, and the first while racing in the Expert/Cat 1 class.
The Winter Park #7 race at the top of Mary Jane started out a little wet. Within 30 seconds on lift to the start of the course the rain started coming down. I’ve never been caught in the rain where I can’t escape. All I could do was sit there and take ever drop of rain that hit me. Within a minute or two I was uncontrollably shaking from the cold.
Luckily, at the top they opened a lodge to get out of the rain. I didn’t know how long the rain would last, but looking at the clouds it appears they were there to stay. Fortunately, about 15 minutes later the rain stopped and most of the people in the lodge headed out to warm up on their bike and get ready to race.
From the start, the race went pretty smooth. I had no problems in the technical single track with ruts and rocks around every corner. My tires, Specialized FastTrak LK Controls 2.0, were holding ground well. After a couple of months of dialing in my front and rear suspension had felt perfect.
I slowly was picking off racers in my class. A couple on the climb, and then on the first descent, then on to the steeper/longer climbs.
After three laps I was still felling good and ready for the long downhill. The pre-ride Jon and I did here earlier in the week really help. I was catching the guy in front of me, and putting distance between the guy behind, who was also in my class.
The last stretch over the Jackalope trail was fun and technical. It reminded me of the riding in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, some rocks and technical sections that really made the course unique.
I’m looking forward to the King of the Rockies race this weekend.
I’d like share the course, but TrainingPeaks is having trouble this week, not allowing me to export my maps.