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...
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
