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Started the race from the second
row, crested the hill for the descent in the top 12 out of
52 in the Sport Vets. I followed 2 guys, they bunched up at
the tricky muddy section, Mike warned me about. They both
got squirrely and I had to cut hard left to avoid a crash.
I was in the deep mud, Mike said you "don't want to be
in". Where is my wheel rim? I was in 6 inches of mud
and couldn't pedal out. I clicked out and hiked the bike to
the dry section, now I'm like 50 out of 52 and started descending.
At least this was better than the Spring Boogie, when my buckle
fell off, and saw the Sport Juniors, Sport Masters, Sport
Clydesdales, and Sport Women go buy.
It is very peaceful at the back
of the Sport pack, sort of like riding on a uncrowded trail,
just missed riding with the sport Women at the Spring Boogie,
(LATER on lap 3 I got see a couple of Sport/Expert Women pass
me).
I had some fun passing through
the back of the pack on the 1st Lap. I had good drafts in
the "Flats" on 2 of 3 laps. On Lap 2, I was the
only one who could catch & hold the wheel of the 2nd place
Tandem team.
I met one goal, to ride the
hills in the Middle ring on all three laps. The last climb
was tough, but I was determined to stay in the middle ring.
Except for the start, it was a good race, I did the climbs
2 gears higher than the pre-ride 2 weeks earlier and 3 gears
higher then last year in Novice.
Finished in 1:44 HRS & 29/39
who finished in Sports Vet. Hard to believe this is an improvement
from my usual last or next to last in the Sports Vets.
Since I promoted myself out
of Novice category, it was really nice to actually finish
ahead one guys who earned his promotion out of
Novice.
Two NECS races down, Nine
to go. Looks like it is a very looooong road to my first Sport
championship point, (points for top 10).
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I
did pre-Warm-up on the road, I was going to take a ride down
the main hill after the rider meeting, a mistake. The rider
meeeting started late and ran long. I had pre-riden the course
last week, so I just went with a verbal scouting report from
Mike Lawless.