The fourth XC race of the Wednesday-night series had a very good turnout (83 riders, including five junior racers!), and we enjoyed nice partly-sunny conditions in the low 60s. I got there early enough to pre-ride the entire loop with Steve. The course was mostly open, so bottlenecks weren't much of a factor this week. For this race, I switched to a favorite non-tubeless tire of mine, the fat-but-light 2.2-inch Continental RaceKing Supersonic, and opted to use light 125-gram tubes... they're not as resistant to pinch flats, but this is a very easy-rolling, easy-accelerating combo that I've also used for fast times in the Midnight Century.
When I got back from my pre-ride, I noted several powerhouse riders, including U.S. singlespeed CX champion JT Fountain, as well as Mike Gaertner and Doug Krumpelman of Vertical Earth, so I knew how the script was going to go: I'd hang with the leaders for a while, then hit the wall and get dropped on a climb ;) We got started, everyone gradually strung out and found their racemates, and as expected, I was clinging to the wheels of JT, Mike and Doug through the first lap and part of the second. Unfortunately I let my bike go too wide in a corner and put it into the trees (see the video below), and couldn't quite bridge up afterwards, so it was a distant 4th place for me in the end.
Two Wheel Transit's the bike-shop sponsor next week, so let's hope for more good weather and another good turnout. See you out there!
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