So, I arrived at the Wilkesboro drag strip a bit less than well rested with the intent of just riding how I felt.
Again the weather was awesome. Warm, overcast, but no rain yet. A bit of wind, giving a bigger advantage to riding in a group, but very nice weather indeed.
It takes my legs a bit to get wound up, having to recuperate for yesterdays efforts and crashes. I lose the lead pack immediatlely. But I would run many of them down as the race progressed and riders were flung out the back from fatigue or mechanicals.
It's kind of nice to be on a cyclocross bike. The pace is higher over the rollling terrain and the miles click by rapidly. There is one climb early that is a bit challenging on slick tires, but rideable (for many), followed by a deep stream crossing. Everything else was quite rideable.
I really enjoyed riding through the countryside on rolling terrain. It was refreshing to know that there weren't any ridiculously steep descents or long hike-a-bike sections. I could push myself to the limit on climbs, knowing I could recover a bit on the descents and still be able to make it to the finish.
The folks that elected for a more road going tire ended up going slowly on the gravel, or running out of tubes and having to be SAG-ed back. I had a tough 25c tire on AC Hurricane wheels and actually enjoyed riding the gravel roads.
I finished in just under 3:00. Good for 7th out of 16 in my age group. Certainly yesterdays race knocked the edge off of my performance, but I was very pleased with that time. It was a good day. It served a worthy cause. A fast, fun ride and well organized event!
A special thanks to Andrew Stackhouse and the volunteers from the Cool Breeze Cyclery team for putting forth the extra effort to make this a successful fund raiser as well as an awesome race.
See you on the trails!
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