Whether I would race the State Championships this season had been an ongoing debate in my mind and in discussion with Neal for sometime now. There were several factors. The main concern was work, I would have to be at a pool for 10-11 hours coaching a meet on Friday, Saturday and then again Sunday morning the weekend of State. The second issue was the ongoing rib issues I was having from the crash in Westminster last week. After visiting the course on Saturday to work the pits for Breeze and after a long conversation with Neal on Saturday afternoon, I made the decision to give it a go. Glad I did.
I left the meet Sunday at noon and hoofed it up to Monarch High School to pre-ride the course. The course was fast and flat, but with two tight turny sections and 4 dismounts. It was mostly grass, but that grass was coming off in spots. I went with the Grifos and had them at about 34 psi (remember I weigh 178). The debate of the pre-ride was whether or not to try and ride the sand. My choice was no and that proved to be the norm.
We lined up at the bottom of the road and I had a nice 2nd row start behind Jake Wells. I endured the jeers after last week, stay away from Grant, and honestly it got me going a bit. The whistle blew and we went. I got the start of the year and turned onto the grass in 7th. The Hudz boys had some issues and at the top of the first run-up Baker stopped to fix a mechanical. The first sand pit was mostly run and Jake took a spectacular header going into the second sand pit. I came out of the sand in about 13th and was happy to sit in. My issue is still the tight and the fast turns. It has a little less to do with my skills than my confidence and I struggled to hold my position through the first set of turns. We hit the long straights that are the backside of the course and with the exception of any iffy inside pass by Jon Baker and an awesome run of a tight uphill 180 move by Boups, I held my spot. At the end of the first lap I was still tagged on to the lead group. Hurting but happy.
The turns and run ups took their toll on the group and by the 3rd lap we were in two groups. The lead pack was just up from a pack that included Boups, Harshman, Ariel, Will Iaia and myself. All the usual suspects. I must say that Boups was on it and he ripped us apart. Will, Shawn, Ariel and I formed our own group and were moving well. No one person could really get away and we rode well together for a couple laps. The the attacks started.
I was breathing like Bill Cosby's Lamaze breathing bit and it was hard to get a deep breath without pain. My legs were like bricks from the hours on the deck and I was in trouble with these guys. They broke me on the twisty section when I was slow through two or three turns and was too cooked to ride them back. They were gone. All alone again. I battled well as I struggled and managed to hold off the charge by Josh Whitney and rolled in 20th. On the perfect weekend it could have gone better, but for the circumstances of this past weekend as well as I could have hoped. Thanks to Breeze, Cam, Keller and many others cheering for me, I managed a smile for the whole race and isn't that the real point?
Big props and congrats to Dubba on the win and the Wizard for proving ageless again in taking third. Jake Wells was second to put some Hudz in the BCS sammich.
The season isn't over, but it is time for a break. I go to Atlanta tomorrow for Junior Nationals with the kids and I am going to take the week off the bike. Then back on to prep for the road season with a couple cross races thrown in to keep it interesting.
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