Woodnewton weekend was success, despite the all the rain, and cool temps.
Justin scored the same b&b that we got last year, in Port Perry, and we were joined by teammate Alex Schmidt this time around.
Pre-ride on Saturday was awesome. Trails were in fantastic shape, and I was enjoying the man-made rock features and some new singletrack. The burmed downhill is always a blast. I felt better on my MTB, the trip to Hardwood must have been an effective refresher.
Post-pre-ride we hit up Subway, then got some good stuff to cook a pre-race feast. Made some meat/veggie sauce pasta that was nutritious and delicious. The we had a bunch of time to moss before bedtime. Caught some Louis C.K. on Comedy Network before hittin the sheets.
Woke up feeling pumped, and started the day off with a bowl of granola to get the metabolism fired up. Then, started cookin up a french toast feast. We ate till we almost felt sick, then relaxed for a couple hours to let it all settle. Found the Giro live on the Satellite there, and got to watch Contador crush it before heading to the venue.
Got there to watch the 11:45 starts. In Cadet expert Meg looked very solid finishing lap one, made a sick pass utilizing the tough rock garden to take the victory. Congrats Meg!
After a solid warm-up It was time to line up, and I got my best starting position yet getting in the second row. Stayed calm and just held my spot up the start climb. Managed to move up a few spots, but also lost a spot or two in the tough muddy section. I was battling with Zach Winn for a while, then he fell back, and I saw a couple Lapierre guys not far back. I worked hard to maintain a gap on them, and held it for a while. Souter caught me on a muddy trail while I was being held up by lapped traffic. I never gave him a chance to pass by keeping a high pace on all the doubletrack. I saw I was closing in on Ryan Atkins, so I made an effort to catch him, rested in his draft for a few seconds, then made the pass an never looked back. I was alone for a while again, but got caught and passed by Kinsie on the 4th lap. I kept with him, and attacked a climb to try and get away. It worked and I came into the 5th lap 11th place with a comfy gap. Just before starting the 5th lap I had a nice crash while passing a lapped rider. I took a less than ideal line and clipped my right hand off a fence pole, and went down in the mud. Recovered quick, but of course my chain was off, so I lost 10 or so seconds. Still had my gap though and felt good. Thought I might be able to catch another guy. When I got to the tough muddy trail, there was a ton of lapped traffic holding me way back. Most guys were good, but some would not move over. I told one guy I needed to pass like 6 times, and he kept saying "ya ya", then fell infront of me, taking me down. Of course Kinsie was now right there and rode around us both. I got back up to Kinsie quickly, and tried to attach on the climb I had lost him before, but I never had the legs and he stayed with me. Let him lead for a while, planning to attack again on the longer climb. He had the some plans I guess cause he drilled it up there faster than I could, and I had to let him go. All I could do now was roll in for 12th.
Still very happy with this result. Felt way better than Mansfield. Back is stronger, and only a little sore.
Nice job Justin, getting into the points, and Schmidt for making his way up to a solid 6th place finish in junior expert.
Next two races are on the road, so I'm not too sad that our trails are flooded again.
All for now
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