Babs' KONA Lisa HT was relegated to ride in the elements on the roof
We stopped in Brattleboro for dinner at an old stomping ground when I was in grad school
Thursday was pre-ride day. The boys were equally amped to be riding.
I originally planned to road ride to loosen up and do 1 lap of the course given the traditional brutality of the course. But, I eased onto the course instead and soon headed through the start/finish and up the mountain. There were rumors of changes to the course, but I still didn't really know what to expect. The start loop was quite different, taking out a techy singletrack section and replacing it with a screaming downhill on a fireroad back to the start/finish area. Then the toughest climbing of the lap began. The bonus being, they took out a 99% 0f the time impossible to ride section and sent us up a fire road instead. It was this section where I lost the jersey last year as the eventual winner was a faster runner than I. This is not XTERRA, this is just biking, and the winner should be the best biker, not duathlete. The mid-section of the course was pretty much all climbing, but the descent down was well worth it. They also re-routed some of the most challenging downhill singletrack making it a very rider-friendly course for all participants, albeit less challenging for the more advanced riders. Also excluded was a perennial mud bog that seemed to collect all of the mountains drainage after a rainstorm, and it always seems to rain here. I was very happy descending, so happy that I decided to do another lap.The legs felt good and I was amped for the race the next day, a nice change from my usual nervousness.
Podium pose practice
1 comment:
Looking forward to the report! 22nd out of 66 in the semi-pro field ain't too shabby!!!
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