The last race of the year! Some are happy to be done, some are not so happy, and some of us just hope it snows so we can ski. ( some are happy N8 brought an extra skin suit cause they forgot thiers)

I was glad to see the course was completely different from last year. The start was in the same spot, but that was the only time you really spent on the dirt road. I’m not great at describing courses from start to finish so I’ll give you the highlights of each lap. There wer 2 switchback sections, one which was a serious off- camber 180, a triple barrier, a double barrier, and those long ass stairs. I think the course had a bunch of corners that let you seperate yourself from the field if you were willing to risk it a little bit. They were sandy or rooty or a tiny bit off camber, just a really well put together course.

I got to the line way late and Guy let me squeeze in the front row next to him, thanks dude. Some dude, who has just as much right to the front row as anyone, was telling Guy to stop trying to edge up. This fellow always rides in mid to rear pack. I was just about to chime in when Guy looked him square in the face and said “do you think you can hang?” It was pretty funny. I just told Guy that I would hesitate 1 second at the start so he could cut out infront of me. It worked like a charm and Guy and I were both in the top 5-7 riders heading into the 1st turn. A group of 3 guys got away almost immediately and worked as a group to keep there gap. After the typical 1-2 laps of sorting out I found myself in no mans land riding in P4 about 150 yards behind the top 3 and pulling away from Guy who was behind me. What to do? Wait for Guy and try to work together or try and chase down the top trio. I decided to give it 1 suicide effort and see what happened. The good news, I was running them down. The bad news, I crashed in the off-camber 180 and lost all the ground that I had made up.Basically what happened was my hood snagged the fence and snapped my handle bars sideways. I think that about 150 people went down in that same spot yesterday. What a sweet corner. As I hopped back on and got going again I could see a group of 3-4 about to catch Guy. The rest of the race was a time trial with the lead group insight, but just out of reach if you know what I mean. Towards the end of the race I caught up to the 3rd place rider (I think he dropped his chain) and we worked together to hold off a hard chasing group. Somewhere on the final lap he dropped off and I rolled in solo taking 3rd overall and 2nd in cat3. One of those days where the legs and lungs felt good from start to finish.

Good times this year. I like the crossniacs and others are showing interest every week. Scott and FPA, we need to chat about a summer kit. I’m just gonna roll the crossniac colors all year.
cj