Race Day at Nationals

Adam passing in the water hole by the pit.

Looking at the weather report yesterday we knew that the odds were against us to have decent conditions. The report said 29 degrees overnight with a 100 percent chance of snow/rain. What we got when we woke up was rain and temps near freezing.

What we got was this. Lot's of sloppy cement type mud!

I got up at 5am to get some food in me and get all of the bikes and other equipment loaded in to the Sprinter. Race time was 8:30am and when we got to the venue it was raining/snowing. I opted to ride the trainer instead of going out on the course since I rode it after the last race of the previous day. The course itself had 2 completely different faces. On one side it was like the moon, volcanic type soil that was sloppy mud on top and hard underneath, pretty fast surface. The other half was on grass that sunk 3 inches as you rode over it, only to spring back up until the next time by, power sapping just like quicksand.

Back to the race...... Sitting on the line and it's still raining, and it's cold. I had a front row starting position due to last years 4th place so at least I controlled my destiny going into the mud. I got a good start and was in the top 5 in the first lap. About half way through the first lap I had some kind of breathing problem and had to just crawl through the power section. I have no idea what happened but I about quit because I started thinking I was having a heart attack. But once I got out of the power section and onto the paved finishing straight I started feeling better. I'm not sure how many places I lost but I'm sure I was out of the top 10. For the rest of the race I had a good lap followed by a fair lap. Mid way through the race I had a good lap and managed to get back up into the top 5. I could see 4th and was closing but just ran out of time. 5th on the day was a step down from last year when I was really looking to move up at least a step into the top 3. Looking back at all of the illnesses and injuries that I've suffered through this year I guess 5th doesn't look too bad. Steve won my race pretty easy which is no surprise. I hope he's able to keep that form and score a win at Masters Worlds!

Masters 50-54 podium.

This little run up was rideable but I decided to just run it every time. Seemed to be the best option at the time.

The giant puddle at the bottom of the stairs. There is actually a platform under the water before the first step. They tried to pump the water out but it just kept filling up. By the way, I hate running steps. I lost a ton of time by single stepping it but it's better than hobbling around for a week.

I have a ton of pictures that I'll have to put into a album that can be viewed. That's a wrap for tonight Two more races to deal with tomorrow and then it will be time to hit the road. The Elite race will be fun to watch tomorrow. The course doesn't really favor any type of rider so I think it's a toss up as to who's going to win. I'll be working in the pit, wish I could watch it on the internet so I could see all the action, but all I'll see is when they blow by the pit twice a lap.

So that's it from Bend, I'll have a recap of Nationals when I get back!