lucky guy

[What's my name foo?]

Well, perhaps I should have taken my sister up on her offer to meet her and 
some family up in Vegas for the weekend, 'cause lady luck was on my side 
this weekend.  Friday night brought a $20 bill off the sidewalk into my 
pocket, but Sunday was where the real fun was had.

This was race number two in this year's MBAA AZ State Championship Series, 
held at McDowell Regional Park's "Competitive Track", home to the now 
defunct Cactus Cup the last few years.  Anyone that's raced here knows it's 
flat, dusty and rocky, a far cry from what this nor'wester is used to at 
this time of year.

The organization here is indeed superb-start wave entry tickets, team pit 
area, the whole nine yards.  Good points:no late entry fee, plenty of free 
grub post race, prize money for the experts, GOOD prize money for the pros, 
large fields, good weather.  Bad Points: no neutral feeds on course, $30 
entry, no camping in the parking lot, good weather.

Age groups are broken up just like back home, only we had 30-40 guys in each 
  bracket, including the pros(open enrollment for the pros down here).  The 
start saw folks lined up twenty abreast, all wanting the same hole shot in 
150 yards.  I was a bit concerned as I didn't any of these guys except for 
my training buddy Eric, and another racing acquaintance from Oregon.  I 
figured I'd just treat it just like a home race and see what happened.

Well, it was just like a home race.  I got an excellent start, hitting the 
"single"track in 3rd.  The start was fast, but I wasn't hurting nearly as 
much as I thought I would be for the time of year.  A mile into it, the two 
in front of me were slowing down, so I realized they probably were not going 
to be a factor(the shark fin attached to the leader's helmet should have 
clued me off to this right away-sorry, it's been a few months), and punched 
it on by them.  No sense letting the pace slow right off so those gapped at 
the start can make their way back up right?

At the top of the "climb", about 2.5 miles in, it was just three of us with 
a small gap to the group.  By this point I was running second.  In the 
rollers at the top, another guy passed me and him and the leaders took off.  
Why I didn't answer this move, I don't know-perhaps a lack of confidence in 
my fitness, or perhaps lack of knowledge of the course and it's 
riders-either way I should of jumped on as the pain was not bad and the 
descent was coming.

In the descent, another dude passed me and I decided that was enough, no 
more slackin'.  Heading into the secong "tech" loop this guy had a 10 yard 
gap,which I quickly closed by taking the direct line over the two drops that 
were thrown in for us.  This was where the crowd was hanging out, hoping to 
see some carnage from some poor sap who perhaps overestimated his ability 
and took the drops only to land face side down in the wash at the bottom.  
What the crowd perhaps did not see, that many riders did, was the drops were 
way safer than the lines around as braking bumps cannot form in mid air, so 
the line was much smoother.

So anyway, on a sand run up, I passed the dude, using the NW cyclo-cross 
skills that appear to be extremely apathetic in these parts.  Fortunately, 
he was another start star, so faded quick.

Off on my own in third. with a good gap, my mind started to drift, and I was 
almost caught by Eric and a local.  Fortunately I threw it back into gear 
for the second half of the race and held on for thrid.  Unfortunately, I got 
smoked by the winner-3 minutes on such a flat course!  Bogus!  And second 
was a Dh'er-but that's between you and me.  And besides-he's a somewhat well 
known pro so he has time to ride.

For some reason, the experts only did 20 miles to the pro's 28-so the top 5 
times were all under 1:30.  Oh well, it was a good preseason warmup.  In two 
weeks is the Hedgehog Hustle.  This'll be a good one-32 miles, plenty o' 
climbing, and an Olympic Qualifier to boot so all the big guns will be 
there.



Hope you're all enjoying the three day weekend.

Jonny, Ann G., or Kristi, could you guys forward this to "the list"

All you mtb'ers-let's get a little Tahuya report down here-I'm itchin' for 
some mud.  And a capitol report when it comes time.

Busto


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