ICUP #4 - Hammerfest at the Hollow

Well, my result improved but the field was smaller so I'm not sure if I fared better or worse compared to 5-Mile. However, I do think I made improvements in my start though I still lost time compared to a few others in my category. Overall I placed 4th, which earned me a pink ribbon that is now hanging in my 5 year old daughter's room. If it were her choice I'd get 4th every race! One thing that frustrated me is that I was unable to establish & hold a lead on the 3rd place rider whom I passed twice on the course only to get passed up myself a few minutes later. He finished 40-50 seconds in front of me and 2nd place was like 1:30 in front. The 1st place rider was cruising and beat me by a good 5 minutes or so.

For the most part I was able to ride strongly throughout the course, though I did have a mini-blow up after 20 minutes or so. Also, I wasn't able to clear the first steep, dusty hill due to congestion ahead of me that necessitated a reduction in speed leading up to it. I probably looked like a complete idiot as the riders in front made way but since I had been forced to slow down I didn't have the momentum I needed to get up and over so ended up spinning out and tipping over into the scrub oak. That was lame... However, I made up for that mistake with solid efforts on the other two steep, dusty sections and passed a few riders who had to dismount. I got forced into some bad lines on a few of the tight, rutted switchbacks which sucked but given my limited descending skills I think I rode ok. Nobody from my category passed me on the downs which was good.

At the podium/awards ceremony (or whatever it's called) I had the honor of sitting in the Tweety Bird chair. Too bad my kids weren't there as they would have loved to have seen that. Julie snapped a picture and emailed it to me but now I'm starting to think I gave her the wrong email address (I think I told you .com instead of .net). If you read this can you click the 'Email' link in the right sidebar and send it to that address? Thanks!

Next week I'll be burning laps on the Draper course as I try and increase my speed on the downhill. I also need to improve my warm-up some more since that first climb will be crucial due to the narrow singletrack descent that makes up the second part of the course. Passing will be tricky.