Fifth Race (North SeaTac)

This was the same course I had previously placed 18th at. The previous night it had rained heavily so the course was quite muddy, and there were a number of very tricky muddy cement intersections. I crashed once while previewing the course, on a twisty decent, when my wheel got caught I slab of pavement. It hurt, but not too much. Thank goodness I was going slowly. The race started, I was still back in no points land and unlike the previous race this one had lots of single track making it very difficult to pass. I spent the whole first lap, just stuck behind a bunch of team REI riders. After an age I finally got by them and worked my way up. I was very cautious every time I passed over the section which brought me down during my scouting, and it paid off, I never actually crashed DURING the race! I ended up finishing 7th, if the course had been another 10 ft, I would have snagged 6th.

Cross has been real fun, but I haven't been taking it too seriously. Training wise, I have been doing long hard training rides the day before all my races, and just been treating cross like very short intense days. Some weeks, I've done a second real training ride post race too. This next weekend is my last cross race for this season, Nats in Portland! I think I might take this final one a little more serious...

Thanks for reading,

Kenneth