Four of us went down to the San Felasco State Park near Alachua Fl. for the 5th round of the Florida State Championship Series promoted by Gone Riding. Four of us finished the race. Four of us did not win any medals. In fact we kind of stunk it up. Oh, I was happy with my performance. I'm always ready to accept mediocrity when it comes to my racing but the other members of the group must have had higher expectations.
PP, PJ, B, and I drove down on Saturday for a couple of laps of practice. The weather couldn't have been better. The hilly section called Conquistador had been removed and more open field added. While this made the trail easier it also made it faster. When you got done it was like, yea, that was fun, but a little boring. The downhills in the woods got sketchy at race pace with all the roots but other than that it was easy. We went back home Saturday night.
Sunday was another perfect day. 45 degrees in the morning but warming up to the low 80's by the afternoon. B and PJ raced the white wave which went off at 9:30. As PP and I waited for them to make their first lap I could tell by B's position (near the back), and the expression on his face, that he wasn't having a good ride. He finished 6th out of 9. Seems his rear brake was dragging since right after the first downhill. We later found out he had not installed his rear wheel correctly. Ah the lessons we must learn.
PJ finished 10th out of 13. He rides faster than that when he rides with me. I think it has something to do with the camo kit.
PP and I raced at 11:30. I got off to a slow start, right behind SteveA. I thought if I could just keep him in sight for the first lap I had a chance to get into the top 5. He put a rider between us on the first climb in the fields, then on the downhill side he got by another one. I settled in behind a guy I raced against in the base class last year and just tried to get my heart rate down.
As soon as we got to the first single tract the lead group disappeared. I just wasn't ready to go that fast in the trees. Yes, I was chicken. So much for following SteveA. I have trouble when I get behind someone, I tend to tell myself that his pace is as fast as I can go. In other words I just get lazy. I followed this guy the whole first lap then dropped him after the finish line.
Midway through the second lap I caught a glimpse of an orange Niner ahead. This guy had finished ahead of me at Tallahassee. The chase was on. The chase didn't last long. I got on his wheel on one of the climbs, he turned around, saw my number, and dropped me. To add insult to it another rider in my class had been sneaking up on me while I had been sneaking up on Niner. He went past me and managed to put a couple of 40+ guys between us. Once again I followed them like a lost dog.
I rode most of the last lap all by myself. It's hard to push when no ones around. I finished 6th out of 9. SteveA got 3rd again. I'm really starting to hate that guy. On the bright side I felt good after the race.
PP came in after the finish with a scowl on her face. Seems she had picked up Spanish moss in her cassette, twice. Now what are the odds of that? 300 bikes rode over that trail before her and she finds the only two pieces of unattached moss? Really? Anyhoo she finished 5th out of 6. The "Moss Princess" has had this problem before. She could have easily gotten 4th if not for those evil trail gnomes that keep throwing stuff in her cassette.
Even with the poor results we had a good weekend. Super Cool bike shop fed us burgers and dogs both days. After riding, sitting in the shade, in the middle of that beautiful pasture, eating my burger, listening to the music, I realized just how damn good we've got it.
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