Jeremy and I got there around 2pm and got a few laps in.
This is a flat, flat course. There was hard packed sand, a small table-top sand
jump, some barns with lots of mulch, and my first uphill barriers.
This was a course in which cornering was key. There were
lots of short, fast, straight sections, and lots of tight turns. My lines
through the turns were atrocious. I slowed down a lot and had to use a lot of
energy to get back up to speed. Other riders cut right past me on the turns.
My handling in the barns on the mulch wasn’t much better. I
slipped several times and might have fallen once (I don’t remember). I ended up
riding unclipped for that section for the remainder of the laps.
Again, my strength was the barriers. I managed to overtake
people going over the barriers, and even the uphill barriers I managed to run
past people and remount. But then they would overtake me on the turns again.
I also had more problems with number of laps. This time, I
never even saw the lap cards. The only way I knew the race was over was that I
saw people peeling off the course after the judges table.
I had a respectable finish, just barely in the top 2/3, but
if my cornering and handling on the sand and mulch were better, I think I could
do much, much better given the same level of strength and stamina.
One more note. A friend of mine got a flat and bailed on the
race after the second lap. I thought to myself, why isn’t he running his bike? Yeah,
he had a long way to go to get to the pit, but if you’ve come to work for 40
min, who cares if you’re running. It’s probably better to finish than not.
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