XCup Race #1 - 11th (overall)

Result: 11th (overall)

Bike: Trek Superfly 9.9 SL, RocketRon/RacingRalph LiteSkin 2.25 - 1.55bar

The first race of the XCup was a time trial race. I had test ridden the track a few days before the race under terribly wet and muddy conditions. The loop consisted of 5 easy but long uphills on gravel roads and the same number of downhill segments. I had hoped that the terrain would have tried up before the race... It had not. I chose the hardtail with grippy tires because of the weight advantage of the hardtail over full suspension bike. The grippy tires were due to the fact that I expected muddy conditions. Slightly higher air pressure than I usually run due to the amount of gravel road climbing that had to be done.

Results:
XCup #17

Race story:
I had been feeling a bit poorly during the start of the week so I didn't train during the first three days. But on the morning of the race I felt quite well and confident.

I was expecting wet and muddy conditions. However, with 250 riders having gone before me it turned out much worse than expected. Some areas were deep in mud while other were quite dry. But after sliding around in the mud with no control it was hard to trust tires when there actually was grip. I got stuck in one particularly big mud puddle and had to get off the bike and run past it.

I feel that I usually handle technical tracks quite well these days but this was a bit too much.

Looking at Strava I did the uphills quite well, so time was lost going downhill.

The heart rate data for this race was the most extreme in a long time (could be a sign of me not being 100% ok): 192 max puls, 181 average. I can't remember when I last pulsed that high.

I finished the race in 11th place. Now, everyone rode in one catagory, so this result was overall with a total of 266 racers taking part. I still feel a bit disappointed.

Conclusion:
Crazy amounts of mud are bad for me