Saturday was Winter Park race #3. I was feeling pretty good about this race. I knew the course and though there was more climbing (~3300ft) than the previous Winter Park race, the longer, more technical downhills and sections of rooty rolling trails suited me. I had a good start though I held back off the start a tad not to blow up on the climb. I kept it steady, right below threshold. Then just before we entered the woods, I turned it on to take back a few places and then smoked the downhill pretty good, claiming 4 more. As we started climbing again, I was rolling pretty good… until I flatted on the next rocky, rolling section. At that time I must have been 10th – 12th. It took me a good 4 minutes to change my flat, I bumbled it pretty good and had never used the CO2 pump I had in my bag so I was careful to figure that out before wasting a cartridge. Once I got going again I started to pick people off… a welcomed change to three week ago when the only riders I past were the ones that were standing still (literally). I finished up strong, placing 22 of 31 finishers. If I hadn’t flatted I would have been 15th or 16th. I’m happy with that. My form is starting to come on though it still has a way to go before I’m at least back to where I was when I stopped racing.
Jeanie’s brother John raced his second race ever and his first since the late 90’s. He put in a really good showing placing 5th out of 10 finishers in his class, though Jeanie still beat him by 6 seconds. Sibling rivalry at it’s best… Jeanie also put in a solid ride to end a really tough training week. This was her finish:
Other highlights came from the Pleskos who turned in a double triple, both placing 3rd, and Bill placed third in Clydesdale again. Here’s Marni accepting her awared:
Dinh Le told a courageous “from the trenches” story; as he raced, he was passed by a woman whom he then starred at for too long and crashed into a tree. It’s dangerous out there! Here’s Dinh’s war wounds:
Check out the other pictures here.
That evening we got back to Jeanie’s parent’s house to pick up the kids. They love playing in Pap Pap’s truck…
