2012 Season Recap / Highlight Reel

The sun is setting on the 2012 race season and what a doozy it has been.  It was a year of milestones for me, I broke through a few barriers and reached some new heights but not without some trials and tribulations along the way.  Its been a long year for me, I haven't verified 100% but I believe this has been my busiest year to date.  I toe'd the line 11 times this year from April to Oct...not bad.

This year I was lucky enough to get into a free program put on at PSU where they partner Fac/Staff with a senior in the Athletic Training program for 8 weeks of structured training.  My trainer Rob got me on a pretty intense HIIT program that yielded a lot of fitness improvements as well as a lot of new knowledge for me on how to use my limited training time a bit better.  My time spent with Rob got me pretty excited for the season and I hit the ground running in April at the SS-a-palooza.

SS-a-palooza - 10th Sport NY & North

I got an early indication that my work over the winter had punched me through to riding at a new level.  I had some issues early on at this race with a few funny crashes but surged late as everyone else was fading hard and managed a top ten finish out of a very large sport field (87 riders).  In the lead up to this race I had been telling Shaun and Dustin that the top 10 riders in the Sport field would certainly be sandbagging...whoops.

Weeping Willow - 8th

Got a nasty little cold a few days before Willowdale that knocked me down pretty thoroughly.  I was bummed because this is always a big target for me and a course I love.  I was able to get clear of the worst of it by that Saturday and I decided to give it a go and see what happens.  Willowdale always has the largest SS field in the EFTA series and the competition is tough.  I have been battling for a top 10 finish the past 2-3 years.  It didn't come easy, I drained all the available energy I had on tap and even crashed late in the last lap and messed my finger up (its still messed up) but I still managed to crack the top 10, something I hadn't been able to do healthy up until then.

Glocester Grind - 5th

Oh the Grind. Such a mess every year. Course doesn't really suit me or my bike but its usually a decent enough time so I usually show up. This year was just as messy as years past.  My rear wheel fell off mid race (lolz) and I never really recovered from that and rolled in for 5th in a small field.

The Pinnacle - DNF

This one stung...A LOT.  The Pinnacle has always been one of my favorite courses and one of my biggest targets every year.  The course hurts like hell but suites me quite a bit.  I can leverage my power to weight advantages and despite running rigid I typically don't lose much time on the descents there.  Everything was going perfectly early on.  I felt really strong, the confidence was there and I was riding top 3 well into the race in a decent sized field. Then my rear wheel mysteriously taco'd and my day was done.  I have since deduced what probably happened but to be so close and then miss out on a result I have been battling for for years was tough.  I plowed through it and luckily that was the end of my gear woes for the rest of the season.

Moody Park - 6th

6th at this race doesn't look like much and is a pretty standard EFTA result for me but this field randomly got stacked with talent thanks to some cyclingdirt.com coverage and another big SS race coming later in the year that brought some pros into town early.  Moody was finally dry this year and the course was rippin.  I raced pretty well and got nipped for 5th late in the last lap by a Cat 2 CX racer but I was able to best someone else who had gotten the better of me at Willowdale so indications were still good I was going better than I ever have.  It was also nice to see I was now 15mins behind professionals instead of just 15mins behind the rest of the entire field like I used to be.

Harding Hill - 3rd

Even though I pulled a podium here I am probably more proud of my 8th at Willowdale and 6th at Moody than this result but even though it was a smaller field it wasn't a freebie and it was nice to win some syrup for my troubles.  They ran this course in reverse this year which made things interesting.  I think I am equally indifferent to it in either direction but it does make it an entirely different race.

SSUSA - 200th?

Beer.

NH100 - 5th

This may have been my biggest result of the year. This was my 4th go at this race and every year I have improved as I chipped away at breaking the 7hr mark.  If you look at the results year to year the 7hr mark somewhat stands out as a good delimiter...if you can break it you are pretty damn fit no if's and's or but's.  I came close last year but ultimately fell 16mins short.  Prep this year was good and I thought I had a solid shot this year.  My cleat fell off at mile 47 and I proceeded to learn some great lessons in determination, perseverance and suffering.  Long story short I made it with just over a minute to spare and scored a top 5 finish.  Hard telling what I could have done with two cleats for the whole race but this race probably does the best job at showing my progression over the past 4 years.  NH100 2009 raced on a 1x9 hardtail with suspension up front - 8h57m. NH100 2012 raced on a rigid SS - 6h58m.

Bradbury 12hr - 3rd

Teamed up with Shaun to check out the whole 12hr thing.  Its awesome.  At least at Bradbury it is.  Course was a blast and having such a big team presence was great.  It was fun to watch the results as the race progressed and watching gaps extend and shrink as we battled over such longer periods of time then I'm used to.  Watching our gaps to 3rd slowly come down over the second half of the race was awesome and catching them late in the game and seeing Shaun step up and regulate when everyone else was dying on the vine was fun to experience.  Team endurance racing is rewarding and a hell of a good time and I will be doing it as often as possible moving forward.

Gordon Barker No Brakes - 12th

That looks a lot like my 'worst' result of the year but I'm actually pretty pleased with it.  Gordon Barker is a smaller time charity race that doesn't really break out by age or ability other than a giant Sport field and a giant Expert field.  SS is not taken into consideration.  So that 12th is in a big Expert field of about 60 riders with most of those guys running gears.  I could have probably taken 11th if I had less consideration for childs lives but the finishing straight wasn't really straight and there were lots of families around and a full on sprint to the line didn't seem prudent.  Fun race, hoping it steps up to the big show in years to come...

Tinney's Hill Climb - 10th

Dbone talked me into a road race and then he beat me.  What a dick.  Good times though, hard effort but one of those where as soon as you finish you immediately think "damn I could have gone harder" even though during the whole event you just want to die.  Weird how that works.  This was a great way for me to wrap up my race season (unless there is a random winter MTB race like last year) and we even got a big road ride in after that was awesome.  Note to self: talk Dustin into early season road ride in the Whites so I can motor pace behind him and Schnellinger and then get picked up by Carl on the side of the road shaking with calorie debt.

So thats a wrap! Time to wind down a bit, eat lots of food over the holidays but gain absolutely no weight (lolz again).  Hopefully shred lots of powder snow and then ramp it all up again next year and hopefully punch through to even greater heights.

The Horror at Harding Hill EFTA NECS 2012 #6

I'd be ok with every race giving out syrup as awards

Ah the Horror.  Not my favorite course but like I've said I keep coming back so there must be something to say about that.  It is well organized for sure, probably some of the most efficient race promoters in the series (more on that later).  They mixed things up a bit this year and ran the course in the opposite direction.  Apparently years ago that was the way they ran it but I've done this race for 4-5 years in the other direction so its been a while.  It changed the feel and dynamic of how it rode quite a bit.  Climbs went from long and gradual to short and steep.  But the chatter remained, no matter what direction you were heading.  If you ride rigid you better be ready to vibrate at the Horror.  Luckily I thought ahead and threw my thudbuster on last week in an effort to help me stay seated and pedaling.

I have no real idea how big our field was, there were 5 pre-reg'd and with the mass starts its hard to tell who's who.  They ended up starting us with the Sports this time around which was...interesting.  Not really sure the reasoning behind that but I guess all told it worked out ok, but we did have to go full gas from the gun to try and get out front to avoid traffic later.  Things got going and Pete M., Taylor C. and myself got out front of the field with Mark not too far behind.  Pete disappeared (per usual) and I had Taylor in sight so I tried to bring things back to a bit more sustainable pace to recover a bit.  I was maybe 25-30ft behind Taylor when he topped out on the big climb early in the lap and by the time I got to the top he was GONE.  I thought I would catch him before long but the descents in that direction did not suit my bike at all.  Long, gradual, super high speed washboard.

I was moving ok but I'm sure a bit slower than anyone else with some squish to soften things out a bit.  Mark caught me about halfway through the first lap after being just a tad too far back in the start and getting caught in some Sport traffic on the climbs.  I continued to hammer expecting to catch Taylor soon, he had mentioned he hadn't been feeling 100% at the start but I think he may have been playing mind games.  Lapping through and he was still out of sight and I was beginning to think he had pulled a fast one on me.  The way this course was running I didn't really have too many spots to use my particular strengths and I was starting to worry that if I couldn't get him by the big early climb he would be able to stay in front on the washboard descents.

Sure enough as I rounded the slight corner on the climb I see Taylor topping out again about the same distance ahead of me as lap 1.  And again as I got to the top he was nowhere to be seen.  I knew I had to catch him in some of the slight climby terrain at the end of the lap to give myself some real estate to put some time into him before the descending started again.  Luckily I finally rolled up on him towards the end of the second lap.  Tried to keep the pressure on as much as I could to get some distance.  Now I just had Pete and Mark in front of me so now it was time to just settle in and keep things moving.  I was still worried about Taylor coming back in the fast chattery stuff though.

3rd lap was pretty uneventful, just more hot and fast suffering.  4th lap I was getting hilarious sloppy.  My ability to hold a stable line was completely gone.  Luckily I was able to keep things upright but I'm sure I was bleeding time that whole lap.  It was lonely out there, because they started us with the Sports we were 5 mins behind everyone else doing 4 laps and everyone we started with stopped at 3.  I have years of DFL practice though so it was no issue.  Stopped the clock at about 1h45m a good 12m clear of Pete and about 6m off Mark for 3rd.  Pretty pumped for a fairly legit podium but I think the one at Pinnacle I missed would have felt a bit better due to the larger field there.  Unfortunately I missed the podium photo op because the promoters were so efficient they did awards probably within 5mins of the last few Expert/Elites coming in.  Apparently I didn't even have enough time to change at my car.  Just as I'm heading back up the hill I see Pete coming down with a huge thing of syrup and a slightly smaller thing of syrup....uh oh.  I guess that's why they invented Photoshop right?

team photo stolen from Mark

Changing gears a bit now.  SSUSA this coming weekend and then nothing official until the 100 in mid August.  Time to start racking up the saddle time.  Also probably going to get back in the gym doing more consistent interval stuff to try and peak again a bit heading into the Fall.  YEEHAA.

All out in Moody Park EFTA NECS 2012 #4

Remember that time the Sox won the series after they hadn't for like 4000 years?  Well this is kinda like that except Moody hasn't had a race that wasn't a mud fest for at least the last two times they've hosted a race but I think we are clear of the curse and today was exquisite.

A dry Moody Park is on par with the Pinnacle; great mix of terrain, decent amount of climbing, full gas, suffer/awesome'fest.

I arrived early to 'put out the vibe' and watch our Novice and Sport riders head out.  Eric and Nate were looking for another 1-2 sweep of Novice Junior and were only kept at bay by a strong slightly older rider.  They came in for 2nd and 3rd.  I didn't get to catch up with some of our other riders, the starts were a bit closer than some of the other races so I was busy with battle prep.

 future of the sport

Our SS class ballooned a bit with day-of registrations which was nice.  I was worried it was just going to be the 5 of us, but I think we got up to about 12.  Unfortunately some of the guys rolling in were of the 'silly fast' ilk.  Like Dejay Birch fast.  Literally.  And he was escorted to Claremont by none other than Thom P. AKA BigBikesMedia.  Pete M. showed, Brad B., Taylor C...it was gonna be a good old time.

Everything was nice and civil until around when the gun went off.  Probably the fastest start I've been a part of this season.  Usually I'm right up in the top 1/3 of the field but I was pretty quickly relegated to about 9th or 10th of 12 right out of the gate.  We did our parade lap and got to railing a super fast, super fun descent.  It was me and Mark again, trying to work our way up.  We made a few passes within the first mile or two and were up working on mid-pack.  We caught Brad B. heading into the climb right after the first pass through the Cavity and we were sitting 4-5 behind the silly fast 3 of Dejay, Thom and Pete.

Not long after that we rolled up on Pete on the tail end of fixing a flat.  He was just jumping back on as I came up.  I asked since he was back here if he would mind towing me up to Dejay, he was very cordial and responded with a "Sure, hop on!".  He then promptly dropped me like I was standing still.  I still had Mark in my sights about 10-15ft up and we basically lapped through together.  I was able to keep the gap around there through the descent and the initial techy meandering climbing but as soon as we hit that middle fire road descent section he got away with his slightly bigger gear and that was it.

Luckily about a mile or two later Carl caught me and we got to NEMBA two-man TT'ing for a bit.  We actually stayed together off and on for a bit.  He would get away a tad and then have some bobble or issue and I would catch back on for a tad.  Definitely is nice to ride with teammates when the opportunity arises, but he eventually got away for good en route to a 3rd in Vet I.  The third lap ended up being fairly brutal for some reason.  Maybe it was because I was isolated and got a bit lazy or because the first two laps were such a slug fest but I was definitely cognitive of a pretty significant slowing of my legs and general forward progress.  Cramps were starting to tweak my calves here and there and the heat was not exactly enjoyable.

Unfortunately my lap 3 slow down led to getting caught at the top of the climb before the lap point by a Boloco rider in the SS class.  I believe his name was Andrew L.(?) he was a new face to me in SS, I was able to latch on as he went by and we lapped through together.  He offered to let me come by because "he was not very good in the turns" which was nice because he didn't have to offer that and it was much more enjoyable to take some serious risks trying to get away from him without him in front of me.

I took that descent like a maniac, probably my fastest attempt at that section all day but ultimately it wasn't enough as he creeped back to my wheel after the next climby section.  We yo-yo'd in some of the undulating techy stuff but as soon as we kicked out onto the smoother gradual climb to the Cavity I knew he was going to push it.  He had about 10 more watts than I did...I was able to hang for a bit but I could feel that it wasn't sustainable.  He slowly started opening a gap and I decided to dial it back a bit hoping he would bonk or have an issue in some technical terrain and I was going to save my last few matches for the final climb.

My strategy didn't work out and he ended up besting me by about a minute or so I think...Mark was another minute in front of him.  I don't regret it though, it was the only workable strategy I had at the time.  And even though 6th is kind of one of my old standard placings this field was stacked.  I rode clean and had a blast so I'm plenty happy with the day.  Just think 4-6 years ago I was finishing 15-30mins behind just the local fast-ish guy and now I'm coming in 15mins behind professional SS'ers.

Podium

I really hope the word gets out on this course and it returns to what it once was.  It's a great venue and super gnar.  I'll be looking forward to coming back next year after I find those 10W I was missing...

The Pinnacle EFTA NECS 2012 #3

I think my fitness and my level of disappointment are at an all time high right now.  In the words of Lazlo and Chris Knight I have succeeded and failed & I am happy and sad for myself.  This is one of the first times I've had to deal with a let down like this...kinda sucks.  Sure I've DNF'd before (although rarely) but it was never as big of a deal back then because I typically wasn't doing all that well when it happened anyway.

It seems as if I have cracked my own personal fitness puzzle this year to a certain extent and I have punched through to my next level.  My fitness has been feeling really good this year and its continuing to come around even now.  I'm feeling stronger later into races, power is better and today felt like a culmination of sorts, until it all wobbled away.

NEMBA tent was the place to be again this week.  Us Experts got a front row seat for some great results for our Sport and Novice riders.  Our shenanigans got going at high Noon first with the Elites and then the SSer's.  I think we had our typical field size of about 9-10 or so.  First lap hurt like hell (per usual) and I was sitting 3/4 with Mark through most of it.  Pete M. got away early, cause hes silly fast, and Brad B. always has a strong start and had gotten out ahead of me and Mark.  There was another rider stalking a bit in there who passed us just up at the top but he wasn't the best descender and we were right back on him and by never to see him again.

 so excited to start suffering

Mark and I hauled through the Plummet together on lap 1 and caught back up to Brad just past the water tower.  We were now sitting 2/3 and we had Carl and the Bully for company.  Finally a 4 man NEMBA pace line!  I was feeling really good at that point and climbing a tad in front of Mark (probably because he was pushing a gear I couldn't even shake a stick at on that course) and Brad was still in there as well.  I topped out just in front of Bully with Carl up the trail a bit and disappearing.

 chasing Mark

I was really feeling the additional PSI up front with the tube (how did I ride like that all the time before?) and riding a bit on the cautious side.  Probably a mistake because Brad caught me bombing on his Wraith FS singlespeed rig when I bobbled in a techy spot so now I'm racing in 3rd.  I was back on quick and chasing hard through the 'pump track in the sky' and somewhere in the next 5-10mins of racing something happened that ruined my day.  Frustrating point is I have no idea where or how, for all I know it could have been a cumulative beating that did it in or a somewhat silent tweak that did the deed but I don't remember ever taking one solid shot.

Mark caught me towards the end of the 'pump track' section (damn you guys and your suspension!) and we were hammering along with a small group heading into the descent.  Not long after that I started hearing my tire rubbing on my frame going through corners.  It slowly was getting worse and worse so I finally tried to steal a peak while riding to see what I could see.  I looked down to see my wheel wobbling all over the place.  Then I looked up to see my right hand heading right for a tree...whoops.  Went heavy on the brakes and piled everyone up behind me.  Your welcome guys!

I pulled over to see if maybe the wheel had wiggled partially out of the dropouts again based on my issues last week...but nope locked in tight.  Checked the sliding dropouts next to see if one had loosened up... nope solid.  Start checking spokes to see if a few had all loosened up...nope all felt fairly solid. ????? I'm very confused at this point, I try popping the wheel out and reseating it just to see if it helps and it does a tad but there is still a mean wobble.  I hop back on and try riding gingerly but the more I ride the worse it gets.

I slowly start to realize I was working on the result of my career at that point and I was probably done for the day unless I wanted to ride the wheel into the ground and out myself a few hundred $$.  So I got really pissed/frustrated for about 20secs and then started walking down one of my favorite descents in New England.  Mark ended up catching and passing Brad for second and Brad held on for 3rd.  Brad was riding strong and descending great but I felt great too and I'm fairly certain I could have put enough time into him on lap 3's climb to secure at least 3rd.  But who knows.

I'm just hoping my wheel isn't toast, that would really add insult to injury.  I'll probably bring it into the shop tomorrow, my truing skills are probably not up to this task.  The biggest positive I think I can take from this whole fiasco is I am now HUNGRY.  My motivation for the next few weeks is sky high right now.  I've had a podium (a real podium, not a gimme) in my grasp, so close I could taste it.  I'll be guns blazing at Moody for sure and working hard between now and then to stay sharp.

Glocester Grind EFTA NECS 2012 #2

Oh the Grind.  This race can't quite seem to catch a break weather wise, although I get this feeling that this course is perpetually wet.  It probably isn't but my perception is reality and all I perceive at the Grind is wet.  Sopping wet...and mud...and rocks, lots of rocks.

Weather conditions day of were actually great surprisingly, unfortunately it rained for about 20hrs straight the day before.  My day started off to driving down the hill from the house only to find our road completely washed out and impassable.  Immediately had the classic "Here we goooooooooooo" thought in my head and threw it in reverse and went around the long way.  Passed two National Guard convoys on 93 on the way down south.  Probably headed to some even bigger washout somewhere.

Arrived at the venue shortly before the Novices were heading out and chatted it up a bit before suiting up for business time.  Lined up with about 10(?) singlespeeder's or so.  Fields were fairly light with another Root66 race on the same day not that far away and weather conditions probably kept some of the folks who sit on the fence until the last second at home.  Got off the line decent enough, no one was really hammering because there is a giant mudhole about 5ft into the woods after the little parade loop they send you on.  I was sitting fourth as we all immediately got covered in shit.  Things were going fairly well early.  I was feeling good and riding well enough and keeping 3rd, although not super close, at least in sight.

I got stuck in a bit of traffic and was joined by Taylor Clark (who will probably be this years 'nemesis').  I bested him at Willowdale by a little over a minute but hes built a bit more like someone who would like a course like the Grind a bit more than me.  He got by me after I dabbed in a tricky spot and I spent rest of lap 1 stalking him.  He was riding most of the techy stuff just a tad smoother than I was.  I was forced to chase back on several times after some of the technical mud bogs and as some of the Expert traffic started to catch us it got a bit more complicated.  We were caught by a group of 4 Vet I's, Bully included and I was able to hang amongst their wheels until the end of the first lap.  At that point I was feeling great.  Fairly certain I could hang with those guys at least through the first half of the second lap...hopefully they would drag me back to Taylor and then we could slug it out the second half of the race.

 I believe this is near the lap point when I was still with the Vet I's

(many thanks to teammate Chris Taylor for sticking around after his race to take some pics and cheer us on)

Unfortunately about a mile or so into the second lap things started coming unglued or I guess unskewered would be more accurate.  Riding through one of the many puzzle-like rock gardens I heard a god awful sound come from the back of my bike.  Started with the rotor screeching/grinding, followed by a really loud thunk and then rattling as the chain came off.  Luckily I wasn't really moving all that fast when it happened because I hoped off to take a look and my rear wheel had pulled completely out of the dropouts and was just kind of flopping there in between my stays.  I did a quick inspection, fully expecting there to be something bent or screwed up...it sounded horrible when it happened.  Luckily everything seemed fine and I spent a minute or two trying to get it back seated but eventually had to flip the bike over to get it in and clamped down.  No idea how I pulled that off.  I guess it just loosened up and took one last final shot from a rock or something and popped out.

That 3-4min setback couldn't have come at a worse time though because I lost my wheels I was chasing and Taylor now had a nice cushion.  I tried to push the pace the rest of that lap but I think in the back of my head I was worried the wheel was gonna fall off again and I was holding back.  That and when you are riding really technical terrain at a frantic pace you just end up messing up more and I was loosing my rhythm a bit.  The mud was also starting to dry out a bit in spots with the nice weather which made it stickier and heavier which didn't help things.  There were a few spots where shortly after a particularly muddy bog you are dumped out onto short fire road sections where the increased speed would throw hamburger patty sized chunks of mud off your tires right into your face.  I LOVE THAT.

 see how much I love it!? 

Coming into lap 3 I was hoping I was making ground and trying to just continue with the forward momentum.  At the very least I was still in 5th so I at least wanted to seal that up.  But the day had decided it was going to challenge me and shortly into the third lap while I was running through a mud bog I slipped on a root and planted my foot hard.  I felt my shoe get really loose all of a sudden and upon looking down I realized the top two velcro straps on my shoe had snapped off and were now useless.  Well, this worked for Run DMC through most of the 80's and 90's so its gonna have to work for me for the rest of this lap.  Trying to keep my shoe on running through deep muck was pretty funny, I was really worried I was gonna lose it and have to finish in a sock (which I totally would have done).  There was really hardly anything holding my foot in the shoe so getting a full power stroke with that foot was out of the question.  So lap 3 was basically clipped in with the left foot, flat pedal with the right foot.  Made for some interesting riding.  A few times when trying to actually click out my right pedal I just twisted my foot out of my shoe.

I somehow managed to avoid complete catastrophe and actually put together a lap only about 6-7mins slower than my first lap.  Fitness wise I still felt great, a lot of the mud and tech had kept me from pushing full bore so I still had some gas late.  I think I ended up about 3-4mins behind Taylor so the wheel drop was crucial.  No one caught me one footed so I held on for 5th.  Happy with that but bummed I missed out on some great racing and a chance for 4th.  Ready to get after it at the Pinnacle...got new shoes on order already (Mavic Rush) and gave the rear wheel/dropouts a thorough inspection and its all good, ready to slay.

Weeping Willow EFTA NECS 2012 #1

Always look forward to this race since the Riverside boys moved it over from Fort Rock a few years ago.  Great venue and always tough competition and a great scene.  This year was touch and go leading into the race.  This past Wednesday I felt the beginnings of a scratchy throat coming on and sure enough Thursday a cold bug was taking hold.  I was committed to leading our CNH Thursday ride that evening which I did (on cold meds) and after that I could feel that I was gonna get temporarily knocked out.

The knock out came the next morning when I woke up thrashed.  I called in to work hoping two super lazy days on the couch with a ton of rest could get me over the hump in time for race day.  My strategy worked for the most part.  I made a ton of progress Fri and luckily I never really got too congested.  Saturday I was feeling good enough to head down to Naro's place for a cookout and a place to crash 20mins from Willowdale.  Good company does wonders to take your mind of sub par health.  I surprisingly got a decent nights sleep on the couch and woke up feeling about as good as I could have hoped considering two days prior I was running a 100 degree fever.

I got to Ipswitch early to avoid parking hassles and to see our Novice and Sport riders off.  We had a huge contingent from the team racing and it was great to have such a crowded tent all day.  It was like grand central station.  The temps were climbing constantly through the morning and I was starting to dread the time I was going to have.  I was worried the heat would sap the truncated strength I might have had after fighting off my cold.  Plus heat and me just don't really mesh...at all.  It was interesting trying to gauge nutrition heading into a 12pm start.  Never really had to do that before, but I guess it ended up going ok.  I guess it was nice being able to see our Sport/Novice racers start and finish but part of me always likes to still have part of my Sunday when all is said and done, this ended up being a pretty solid full day affair.

stolen from Mark

The singlespeeders got lined up behind the Elites with a decent sized field of 24ish? (24 pre-reg only 18 names on the results sheet when I left though...)  Things are so crazy at the start its pretty hard to tell what the hell is going on.  Things actually got off to a somewhat civil start compared to some races, I think everyone knew we were in for a long hot one.  I was about where I usually end up, towards the front of the 'second group' as we headed towards the first small singletrack section.  I got passed a bit it the first few miles but also did some passing so I was starting to loose track of where exactly I was in the field.  I knew I was mid pack which I was fine with.  No expectations for today considering I had no idea how my energy would hold up.

I got to blowing serious snot rockets pretty constantly.  I probably spent a good portion of the race covered in snot.  I kinda wish I could just do that normally when I have a cold...way easier and less kleenex waste.  My energy was holding up though and I was breathing fine once the snot was outta there so I got to business and the course was super fun this year.  I think it was my favorite iteration of the past few years.  I thought it was a pretty solid mix of doubletrack with huge sections of sustained singletrack that was all a great mix of terrain that was super fast but still required your undivided attention.

Lap 1 went ok, no issues and my pace felt ok.  Lap 2 I made the mistake of grabbing Expert wheels as they went by.  I like trying to do that usually because it tends to get me to ride harder than I would if I was isolated in spurts that I can usually manage but I think I did this one too many times and ended up getting a tad burnt out by the tail end of that lap.  I felt like I was fading pretty bad on the first doubletrack section of lap 3.  And it showed because I was passed by a SSer I had gotten by on lap 2 and shortly after that I was also caught by Brad B who I have been perpetually yo-yo'ing with over the past few years at every race we both show up at.  Sometimes he gets me, sometimes I get him.  I love when he comes out though because he tends to bring out the best in me.  Hes strong and I know he might be able to beat me but I know I might be able to beat him and I always dig deep when hes around to make sure it tips in my favor that time around.

I was able to get back by him and I tried to keep my pace not necessarily blistering (not like I could have anyway) but I focused on consistent clean lines...just keep moving forward and don't forget those fluids.  I also remembered to take a 'no-cramp' pill at a very opportune time as well which I think did wonders.  No cramp issues and I heard all kinds of horror stories from other riders at the finish.  Things were starting to get a little loose in the last few miles and I kept thinking I was hearing Brad breathing down my neck so I was getting a bit frantic just wanting to be done.

Coming through a little chicane section I slightly misjudged and reacted too late and ended up pinballing off one small tree into another at pretty high speed.  Then dumping the bike I planted my right hand as I went down and something awesome happened to my middle finger.  All happened too fast to be certain but I think its probably the most likely that I popped it out of socket for a second jamming it on a root as I planted my hand.  It felt very weird when it happened and the way it felt I was fully expecting to see a gross crooked finger when I picked my hand up.  Luckily that was not the case and the finger still worked when I went to grab the bars again so I got back at it knowing full well I probably had about 10mins before the adrenaline wore off and it started to hurt real bad.  It worked out and I was not that far from the finish and I immediately got to the tent for some ice.

FINALLY got my top ten at Willowdale with an 8th place on the day.  I'm really happy with that considering my health at the time.  I think if I was 100% I might have not gotten passed late and maybe I could have been a place or two higher. Hard tellin' but I'm pumped.  Hopefully I finish off kicking this cold in the nuts and my finger heals efficiently so I can continue this hot streak I'm on.