Putney (West Hill) XC - Race Report

trying to skip the usual long-winded race report and cut to the chase on this one. my 2nd xc of the yr and my 2nd 10th place finish. 10th is where the cool kids finish, didn't ya' know?

cpl days before the race i asked thom-e-p if he'd mind snaggin' my IFRacing clothing from his shop, one of our main sponsors. being the super nice guy he is, he rigged-up quite a carrying system for the 40 pair of socks i ordered:
wicked! thanks thom, i owe ya'. being the super-nice guy i am, i proceeded to haze him on the starting line. he IS wearing the leader's jersey. it wasn't too many yrs ago that thom's green IF jersey was my main barometer for performance - a few yrs passed, some really fun races in-between - and this yr that guy's taken it to the next level! and now his leader's jersey is my barometer (once again). unfortunately, the guy was just fried-out on sunday, but that's his story to tell...

i'll keep the rest of this short. yeah right. i raced my bike. i tried to go really fast, but was short of the leaders by about a minute per lap. not my best performance, but certainly not my worst. On saturday, my legs were absolutely GOLDEN! unstoppable. i couldn't even feel my legs. maybe i rode a touch too hard sat, but that could also have been the blistering pace up front on sunday! i just didn't seem to have all my power, even dropping into the grannie gear here and there - i haven't used the grannie since my sport class days... who the hell knows. this racing/training business seems like voodoo magic sometimes. jenn said it best when i got home, "you're not racing enough to complain about it, get out there!"

the Putney course is awesome! fast, good climbs, banked turns, cpl technical sections thrown-in. by the middle of the 1st lap a group of 6 or 7 was in a congo-line up front, with a chase group of about the same about 30secs back. we stayed like this for a while, before splintering. i managed to break-free, but couldn't reel anyone in. i keep thinking, "they'll pop, they'll come back to me." greg carpenter did for about half a lap before recovering and ripping a wicked line to pass me like i was riding a tricycle. instead, by the 3rd lap, 2 fellas gapped-up to me, one of them was my buddy Harry Precourt - another steller human. once he got around me going into the 4th lap there was no catching him - i'd grind-up only be dropped on a descent! that guy was railing it; it was a major break-out race i was stoked to witness it. way to go dude. i put in a huge effort on the final climb, but one glance back by harry had him hammering it out to the line a few secs up on me. the results were tight, good stuff, fun racing! i hate dangling alone all race, this one was constant contact, ease-up and you're gonna get passed... i just had a wicked case of dejavu. weird.

jenn's away this upcoming wknd and i'm with the kiddo, but i've got the green light to get a babysitter so i can race Mt Snow. hmmm... is it worth the gas, the $ for the babysitter??? hmmm...

one issue i've been having big-time this yr is my back. i need to do something different as the usual soreness has been distractingly painful... yoga?

thnks for driving shawn! and way to go Mo Bruno-Roy on her win! wicked.