Recap of STXC Races #1&2

Late January means the '07 season was about to start at full speed. Just as I thought the expert field starting at warp speed.

Race #1 (1/20) - Temps in the high 40's and sunny conditions brought some 190 riders total for the opening day of racing in the winter short track series. Race time 2pm, I along with 13 other expert riders followed by 20+ super sport riders were about to flood the 3/4mi. track for a heart pounding HOUR O' POWER. The start was fast very fast and placing into the first section of single track was crucial. In classic slow start fashion I get behind the worst single track riders out there. Within 5 min the field was out of reach.

It's never good when 10 min. into an hour event you start planning your corrections for the following race. So now into survival mode I tried to keep ahead of the super-sport class and the ever charging leaders from the expert class. yeah getting lapped really sucks. However it happens more so in this type of event. Luckily I stayed with it holding onto every available rider who past, just keeping momentum. Finishing in 7th, I'll take that as I'm planning on the entire series. Points are what you are really after. Changes are coming!

Race #2 (1/28) - Perfect temps - dry, cool, sunny but windy. This made for bigger fields than last week. I think some 16 expert and 30 super sport lined up for the HOUR O' POWER. The high octane element for this weekend was from the WNC area, a handful of strong riders were to make this event faster than the last. Conscious of my decision from last weekend to start faster and more aggressively. I lined up closer to the front and was mentally ready to suffer from the start. Key was to pick out the riders who would complete the series and keep with them.

Holding to my decision I file into the woods in the front group. Feeling great about my situation. Somewhere around 10mins in gaps started to form, I find myself just on the cusp on loosing contact with field. Grouped with three others I keep surging to bridge up to the second group. Now twenty something minutes into the race I finally bridge the gap to the group(6-8). Still with half the race to go. This group contains Jamie(teammate) and two other riders content on the series. Good group to ride with. The wind was a factor and getting into a group was crucial. I held as loooooong as I could, heck I just spent 20min bridging up in the wind solo. With 10-15 min to go, I had to put whatever I had left into the effort. Managing to hold onto 7th for the second week in a row. Official results are not up yet but, I'm counting on 7th. Next installment of pain comes on Saturday (2/03).

Till then