Wet slippery sections made for an wonderfully challenging course, especially for a sketchy-off-roader such as myself. My race, stacked with 60-70-odd racers, started at noon. Wearing the Crossniacs duds felt good. Eric grabbed the holeshot and I was not far behind. I felt really good and cheerful for the entire first lap which, in my opinion, was a little slower than normal. Sitting in about 7th place, I started yelling at “Hole-shot-Eric”, “Go Eric! Crossniacs Rule!” Anything that popped in my head, I shouted out. The “Pyramid of Pain” was a perfect place to give a shout out to the dude up in front of you.

Anyways,

Second lap, I dug in and got to work. My heart rate kicked up, but the legs felt good, so good that I took it a little too fast around the 180 to the run-up. I ended up flat on my back, laughing. There’s that brief moment when you are on the ground when you think, “I should just stay here, this is nice.” Well, then you get up and get going again.

I really struggled in the “Pyramid of Pain”. The back-n-forth was often the place I lost any gap I had on competitors. Maybe my center of gravity is too high, but I could not get around those turns easily-until the very last lap when I seem to “get it”.

Anyways, taking last week off hurt any high intensity I may have had at the 20 minute mark. I hit that wall of pain pretty hard and my lower back screamed with displeasure. I gave up a fight or two and therefore lost a few positions. No great story there.

I finished top something, something… good enough for me.

It was fun to see friends, Jim and Mike (who needs a new frame), and Ladric, BK, the Crossniacs crew.