After mixing up a batch of chocolate milk for the 4 yr old, I logged on to Twitter to check out what Ed from ICUP had to say.
"Rain/snow mix. Can see the top of the course. Race 3.5 hours away"
I went back to bed. An hour later logged back in and saw this:
"Snowing. The geese love this. Radar still clear in the west"
"Snow stopped. Great points today"
"Race on time. Some course changes"
Then Brad sent me a text asking if I wanted to carpool up the race. I was already up, I had the hall pass from Rachelle, so I got ready, picked up Brad and made the drive up to Soldier Hollow.
A lot of racers showed up. The usual crowd. I was surprised so many made the effort to be there with questionable conditions.
I lined up in the SS group, did a quick look at my competition and noticed a guy next to me I didn't recognize. Someone from Jackson, WY. I would later find out he is a pretty big deal. He looked fast and had the build. Small and skinny. After getting the hole shot and leading the pack for the first 10 min of the race, he came around me and pushed the pace. I decided not to keep his wheel. It was early in lap one and there would be plenty of time to settle into a good pace once the nerves settled down. Besides, I couldn't match his speed even if I wanted to. My only hope would be that he would have a mechanical or blow up. Chris Cole came around and chased him for a while and started to closed the gap. I was riding in 3rd position with about a 30 second gap on Shane in 4th place with the rest of the SS group no where in sight. And that was how the race would finish. Fast guy from WY in 1st, Chris in 2nd, and me in 3rd....Meh. I guess as long as I'm standing on a box I can be happy with the result.
Next ICUP race is Draper. The home court. I hope to see some of the Suncrest/Draper crew come out and play.
***Update- Thursday's night ride/race will be in Draper. Details coming....***
8 comments:
I would have not been there myself today with out Twitter... As always, good to see you.
i'll come out for draper.
with a cowbell. to cheer. i'll save the riding for AFTER the race.
I'm going to launch a twitter campaign to get dug to race Draper, he always bows to crowd pressure.
Brad- I think Dug is saving his legs for the Thur night race...er, um group ride.
dug - Ditto. May I join you for the after race ride?
Rick - I'm going to be a dick and quote you:
"I shall now hereby announce my retirement from MTB racing. It's stupid and it hurts."
Any comment?
KK- I took 2 weeks off but am back at it.
Nice work Rick. Crazy weather conditions seem to be the way it is this spring on Saturday mornings. See you for the Draper race(s).
Twitter got the riders out... nice.
And still, third place is super solid!
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