King of the Rockies

Sorry all, its been a while. Things have been really busy. I've been meaning to get my stories out but time has been against me.

This past Saturday was the final Winter Park Mountain Bike race. I wasn't really looking forward to it because... I really haven't done all that well and I've suffered like a dog. This time a real opportunity knocked that changed everything. One of my teammates offered me a chance to ride his mountain bike during the race. An Orbea 29er hard tail. MMM 29er! They are all the rage, bigger wheels making it easier to role over everything and a hard tail, no suspension to soak up your effort.

Borrowing another racers bike is a real treat. Most people I know hold them very close, never letting them out of their sight. I know my teammate does to, I tried to offer him a chance to get out of it. The bike was so dialed in, a clear sign he has spend a lot of time getting everything just perfect.

The race was great, it started out on a couple mile "flat" section. Some of the higher placed (series points leader) teams were trying to set each other up by opening gaps and trying to make others close them down. I wasn't worried about winning and it's always safer at the front so I went right to the front and shut everything down. I tried to kept the pace high(er) and keep the race together. I wanted to shutdown the teams from working everyone over. We hit the bottom of the hill in a long line, blowing past dropped riders from the group that started 3 minutes before us. Things went pretty well on the climb and I paid for my efforts on the flats. The descents.... I took it easy on. After all it was a test ride on a friends bike, he would have been pissed if I scratched it all up.

In the end, I felt great. My body felt so good after the race. Most of the hills hit during this race we had seen during previous races. I swear they were shorter this time. In previous races I've been exhausted at the finish. This time I felt good, despite not having a rear shock. It was great. While my overall placing didn't change that much, the field was very large. Typically I've finished about 22% slower than the winner, this time I was only 13%. While it sucks to be calculating like this, you have to find the improvement were you can.

As for the 29er hype... I'm showing my mountain bike to a potential buyer tomorrow. I'm making the leap!