Mansfield Ocup

First Ocup of the season went alright. It was a big improvement on last years result there, and the field was very similar, with the Quebec team and a Nova Scotian present.

I lined up 1 second to late, and had to start near the back, but it wasn't a big deal with such a wide/long opening climb. I moved up to about 18th by mid lap one, and was feeling solid, then I started to hurt a bit, and wasn't riding my best. Laps 2 and 3 were painful. I felt a little off my game, not riding very smooth. Held my ground though, only losing a spot or two each lap.

I had a fluky crash just as the lead train of juniors was catching me. I was turning right on doubletrack from singletrack, and stood to hammer, winding up flipping over the bars somehow. Did a stick go into my front wheel? Just rear wheel slipping? No clue......it happened so fast.

I was fine though, just mad that bars turned, and brake levers had moved. Lost 30 seconds maybe. I was able to make back the spots I lost, but the 4 juniors were never seen again.

Lap 5 I started to come around. I made up 2 spots and my legs were strong. Too bad my back was hurtin me, just totally killing any buzzes I encountered. No matter how strong my core is, the first ocup always seems to totally wreck my lower back. Just happy to get that over with, so it can recover and get stronger for the next race.

Congrats to teammate Megan Fleury for a solid 2nd place finish in cadet expert, and Alex Schmidt for 10th (7th On) in junior expert.

Justin Henri had a great ride too finishing only a few spot behind me in his first elite race. Nice job man!

Not sure whats next for me, ZM crit is supposed to be next Sunday, but I don't see anywhere to register for it. If that's not happening then Woodnewton is next up. 2 weeks to get ready for it.....hopefully the trails will dry up before then, I need to MTB more!

All for now....