Velo in the City: Surfs up!

2007 Surf City Halloween Bash

Location: Soquel High School
Teammates: Keith
Place: 16th

First off I have to say I really liked the course. Good job Vanderhoot and Co.

Going into the weekend I tried to do what I could to bounce back from a few weeks of lackluster placings. A good week of training and lots of attention to detail on the equipment had me feeling a lot better and on the right track.

I carpooled down to the race with Mack. We were quite early and got some sandwiches. Don't get to hang out with Mack to much and was nice to shoot the bull..... The weather at 12:00 was already feeling like 70+ and rising- another hot one for sure. I made my way over to the Team tent and gathered myself together. Jesse was taking a "buy" week to rest up and Tim unfortunately pinched a nerve or something loading his bike in the morning. It was just going to be Keith and I for the Elite race. Cody and Nate raced in the B's race. I also got to see Josh and Cullen. Both with some serious dirt on there face and signs of things to come :(

Did I mention it was hot?

Team Headquarters

I tried to sneak in a pee right before the A's call up and paid the price. I was lucky to get into the 4th row. Bang were off and mayhem ensues. I fought to move up best I could but the first bottle neck really stretched things out. I focused on finding my rhythm, riding through guys, and racing the course.

Two laps into it my stomach started to ache a little and I cursed myself for that Redbull I had with lunch, a little to close to the race. I had to take it a bit easy and it slowly went away. Once over that I picked the pace up and stared to catch and pass riders. About 40 min runoff the clock and I was getting REAL thirsty. Did I mention it was hot! I have been shunning the water feeds for most of the season this far but today was a necessity. I rode past the guys and yelped " need water" Cody came to my rescue and did a great job of H2O from there on out. Thanks bro!!

Fun off-camber bumpy grass sectionDoesn't look like it, but it was a bit of a dust bowl out there at times...

In the end, I was chasing Nick from R.lobster with Aaron (also R.lobstr) chasing me after flatting early in the race I think? Anyway Aaron got passed me onto the last lap and I tried to hang on but I was feeling a bit cooked. I managed to stay within 9 sec and finished 16th.

I had a pretty good race after a terrible start. the run-ups were good to me and on the bumpy fast turns I felt confidant and fast. A much better result than the last few weeks. I think things are turned around and will improve in the next few weeks. Hopefully for Pilarcitos, probably better for CCCX tho...

We'll see....

Big up to Jesse, Tim, Keith, Cody, and Nate for showing up, the support is great. Again, thanks Cody for the water! Keith--good to race with you.

Nice to see a few Fusion boys (Josh and Cullen) out there. Josh, change your brakes already huh? ;) both looked to have had good time...