Sunday 17 May 2015

XCup Race #3 - Third race in five days

Result: 9th (overall)

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, RocketRon/RacingRalph LiteSkin 2.25 - 1.3bar

This race was run on a fast and technical race course really close to where I live which I had not raced on before. The first time I even rode it was a week before the race when we tested it. It's a rather rooty course with a few exciting steep sections. When we tested it the course was fairly dry... On race day we had rain and hail just before the start...
Also, third race in five days... I did not have high hopes...

Results:
XCup #3

Race story:
There was a start loop which consisted of a long paved road climb. Being the optimist that I always am I took the lead up this climb and pushed as hard as I could... but of course, being over-trained the way I was, that didn't mean I was very quick. The guys let me have the lead until just before the end of the climb when 4-5 of them rushed past as if I was standing still. I managed to hang on the the tail of their group however.
After a few minutes we came into the muddy forest singletrack and, well, I just didn't have the confidence that I should in the grip or my tyres for that matter. I was going slow and got passed by a few riders in the first two laps.
However after two laps I started getting used to the conditions, I was chosing my lines a bit more carefully, and, well, also the sun came out and it began to dry up a bit. So I managed to hand on to ninth place.

Conclusion:
Muddy conditions are hard