1st "Race" of the season

So I decided to make a last minute decision and do a local race called the Hilton Falls Time Trial. The course is a mixed of high speed fire road and low speed very technical rock garden sections. I've been battling a stomach bug the past few days but with the weather being so nice I decided to participate anyways.

The first real race of the season is always a bit nerve racking but I was surprisingly calm. I didn't have any real expectations of the race so that must have contributed to my casual attitude. I did a short warm up and then waited for about 20 mins for my number to be called. They were starting riders off in 30 second increments. They called me to the line and I was off. The course immediately begins with a short climb that gets very steep at the end. To my surprise I got to the top of the climb and could see my 30 second rider (#171 - remember this number) just up ahead. The course flattened out and I was now chasing. In a few minutes I caught and passed him. From there on it was all about catching people. The Asylum was going well and I could feel the momentum of the 29" wheels really carrying me through the corners and flying over roots and rocks. After awhile I hit the first of many rock gardens. Some of them rideable, some not (by me anyways). In many cases it was faster to run than ride as there were many moments the terrain was practically unrideable. Still a lot of fun anyways. I had passed about 7 or 8 people now and hit the last few double track sections. I was absolutely flying and passed some other riders alarmingly fast. The legs were starting to burn at this point but I knew I was near the end and wanted to finish strong. I came through the finish line and was happy to be done and thought I had placed fairly well.

We waited around for awhile to get the results and when they were posted I was stunned (in a bad way). Results showed I finished in 13th place....strange thing was my time was many mins slower than what I timed. Also #171 (who started 30 seconds ahead of me which I then passed 3 mins into the race) finished 5 mins ahead of me and in 8th place! Something was definitely up. It turns out there were a few recording errors and some riders who finished, then turned around for a warm down, thereby coming through the finish line again and getting 2 times recorded. It all ended up with me finishing in 6th place. I still think they got the results wrong and I should have been about 5 mins faster than the have but there isn't much I can do about it now. I'm still quite pleased with this result given my training is only starting to get into high gear.

Training camp begins later this week for about 2.5 weeks, then it is the first Ontario Cup of the year. Hopefully I can do even better at that race.

Steve