The track was a 6 mile loop this time, and the idea was to get 5 laps in within 90 minutes. I was only able to complete 4 laps in the timeframe allowed. It was a great track and I did have a good time out there. The weather was just about perfect although it was a bit warm, and very dry which made for very dusty conditions, particularly at the start.
This was a NETRA event, and they usually have a very good turn out. This one was no exception and the hosting club had lots of volunteer staff to assist with parking and sign up. It was a very well run show.
I started in the front wave again, in the "Super Senior C" class. Had a decent start and as I said, the dust was so thick that you really couldn't go too crazy trying to pass even if you wanted to for the first half mile or so. Once we got into the woods the visibility got a little better and we started to separate a little bit. I was feeling pretty good and then had an inexplicable crash on a short hill climb. Nothing serious, but I lost a few places while I was restarting. Then the next wave of riders started catching us and for the rest of the lap I was moving over to let the fast guys through.
On the second lap I was feeling some arm pump and fatigue. I came around one muddy stream crossing and had a nice open straight ahead when I noticed a guy waving both hands at me. I glanced at him while I was pinning the throttle, hit a root in the middle of the trail that I hadn't seen 'cause I was distracted by the guy waving his hands, and got deflected into a bunch of trees on the left side of the trail where a couple other guys had crashed and were lying with their bikes. I added mine to the pile. After a couple seconds of daze and confusion, I picked my bike up, did a quick inventory and determined that by some miracle none of the broken plastic strewn around was off of me or my bike. The only thing I felt was water gushing all over me from my hydration pack, which actually felt pretty good once I figured out it wasn't something worse.
Anyway I got back into the race and started feeling pretty good, had a good race with a dude in front of me for most of the 3rd lap, passed him right before the start of the 4th lap on a tricky steep descent, and then stalled the bike on one of the hill climbs after the staging area and he passed me again, but I think I got him in the woods later.
The unofficial results showed me 7th in class (out of 13), and 73rd overall out of 115. I'd have liked to finish higher but I rode as well as I could, so I can live with it.
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