CCCX #5 Ft. Ord

Downhill deep-sand pit .. evey bodys surfing now ...

Place: 18
Time: 1.12'42''

While driving down to Seaside for round #5 in the CCCX Series, I had a lot of emotions bubbling up about my return to racing after my knee injury... Mostly excited, but also a few concerns --is it to soon? --can I even finish on the lead lap?

The course was the same venue as race #3 in Ft Ord. It was fast and fun but this time around the course was run in the opposite direction and seemed even faster. The rain had been absent for the most part, so I knew sand would be the order of the day and decided to run Michelin Jet clinchers at around 3 bar. I also used my double ring bike and the 48T chainring worked out really well on the long pavement sections.

I enjoyed the pre-ride and watched Cam and Jesse hopping the final barrier set. They were pretty do-able but I wasn't wanting to take any chances, so opted to run'em in the race. The deep sand pit was fun without alot of garbage in the sand. It was a surfing safari..Ya

I got a crappy jump but knew with the super long pavement start, It was possible to move up before the first dirt section. I managed to get on Cams wheel and rode all the way up the line and when we hit the dirt, I was in 5th wheel. I did a better job getting into position than I realized. At the time I was pretty waxed and got passed through the first set of barriers and continued to slowly slip down the leader board for the next couple of laps. With 5 to go, I managed to pick up the pace quite a bit and ended up having a good race with Isaias and A SS rider.

Towards the end I lost touch with Isaias and was feeling the loss of race fitness. So I focused on racing for time and finishing on the lead lap, which I managed to do. It was a good race, I liked the course and the team did great. Jesse managed 3rd and Keith 3rd as well, in the Masters A. Nate broke the top 10 and Cody right behind him.

So this weekend it's the District Championships in Livermore on Saturday (fast with a very tough stair run) and the Pilarcitos final is on Sunday at Coyote Pt. (with a usually long sandy beach run), one of my favorites.

Four weeks after my injury can I pull off the double? I feel strong-- just lacking cardio fitness. We are in the heart of the CX season and with guys at or around there peak form, to just finish both races, on the lead lap-- is my goal. We'll see...

Tune in next week !