The grand finale of the Solitude Tuesday night series was last night. Where has the summer gone? It seems like just a few weeks ago the series started and I was in wonder at how the sport class had grown from an average of 7-8 riders last year to close to 30 this year. I decided to try some different things last night just to see how they went. I did a long easy warmup by climbing the road and riding the course down and I also took it a little easy from the start and gradually ramp up my intensity. I had some pedal issues at the start and along with my slow speed quickly found myself near the back of the 20+ rider field. Got around a few people on the climb but was still near the back. By the top of the climb I had caught up to Jim and Janelle but decided to chill behind them for a bit of recovery before I hit the road. Once I hit the road I felt better than I ever had at that point and turned on the burners blowing by Mark and about ten other riders. I picked up Ken and we took turns pulling across the top but I let him scoot by to kill the DH. I lost some time to Ken (who is an excellent DH'er) but caught him midway through the 2nd climb. I hung on his wheel thinking I could make the pass on the road but he must have held a bit in reserve as well because I couldn't get by before the 2nd DH. I finished a few ticks faster then last week but nothing spectacular. The main difference was I felt like I could easily have held the same pace of about a 23-24 minute lap time for another lap while normally I'm pretty tired by the finish. I held on to my 5th place overall in the series and was treated to $100 cash for my efforts. I wasn't the 5th fastest rider in my class but I was one of the most motivated and in a points series showing up is half the battle.
Rhonda ended a strong campaign with a 2nd place overall finish and collected $300. We decided to re-invest our winnings in cycling by buying a couple seven race packages for the cyclocross series this fall. CX looks like great fun and at the very least it will help me work on my top end performance and bike handling skills.
Friday News And Views
18 hours ago
5 comments:
chippo said the cx series is on the brink of being cancelled. everyone better call him and help out.
You raced a great series man and totally deserved the $. Same with Rhonda. Congrats to both of you.
I wish the ICUP would go back to the Sport 30-39 category. It was fun racing against so many guys and trying (with no success) to stay in front of you! If we were able to manage the passing issues inherant with a large group on a course like Solitude that's 75% singletrack it shouldn't be a problem for the ICUP races.
Are you going to give Expert B a go next year? :)
I wish they'd hurry up and post the results from last night...
You signed right up for the cyclocross series? You're a racing junkie. I'm glad MTB race season is over and look forward to joy rides this Fall.
Speaking of which, we need to get you and Rhonda and the Buzzards down to AF Canyon for a ride. I think you'll like the trails there.
Fox- I thought the CX series was rocking. Last year was supposed to be the best year ever and Utah had the highest per capita participation of any state. What's changed?
Mark- It was kinda fun racing in such a big group where you knew a bunch of the people. The problem with ICUP and big groups is most riders take it too seriously and passing is much more difficult. My favorite races are the ones with plenty of room to pass i.e. 5-mile pass. I might move up to the B's next year, just depends if I decide to make the leap and actually train next year.
KK- CX is where it's at for a family man such as yourself. Your race is done by 9:45 AM leaving plenty of time for other stuff. You'd need to borrow a hardtail or a cx bike though.... not much fun on a Prophet. AF will happen this fall. After Evanston is over we'll make it happen.
I wanted to try a CX race last year, but didn't make it. Hopefully this year. I might be able to borrow a bike, if not then the FS MTB will have to do. I know it's not the right bike for CX, but it should be good enough to give me a taste of CX.
Post a Comment