My first race of the season and why did I choose brighton? Oh wait I know, because of the short track race.I decided to take a pre-ride on torn shirt before the race being that I havent ridden the trail in 3 years. If you havent ridden torn shirt it is only about 5 miles, but the first 3 are quite technical with a lot of rooted, eroded climbs and really technical descents. After that the trail is quite a bit tamer and almost flows even. I havent ridden a trail like that in a while and it sure showed. I took a nice little spill on one of the last technical downhills, I guess I picked a bad line and didnt get back over the bike far enough then I rolled down the hill landing on my side. I finished up the loop bloody and bruised and decided that I wasnt going to do the TT. I figured I would probably be to tentative and just crash more, and the sore shoulder and back werent going to help.
Next up was the short track. The course was very cross like, more so than I was expecting. After a lap or two on the course I couldnt wait to get to the line, but I had to wait for the expert/elite race. My buddies John & J.B. were both racing in the expert race. J.B. got first in his race which was cool to see, and John got 4th. I counted out the laps for them each lap and before I knew it was time for me to take the line.
I line up early and get a good spot in the front row. The whistle blows, and we are off. And no sooner than that I hear the guy next to making all kinds of noise trying to clip in, and then he hooked his bars on mine. I am not sure how we separated without crashing but somehow we did, I guess I ended up braking and he got away along with a few other guys. The 5 laps that we did went by pretty quick and I couldnt quite make it up to the lead group. The cross bike was a big advantage, and the fmb tires were great on the dry course. I rolled across the line in 4th place. Not bad, and looking at my times compared to the expert racers I would of been in the top 7 or 8 spots.
Not sure what the next mtb race will be. I really cant wait for cross season now and the new project that is in the works isnt helping with that either.
Thanks to J.B. for all the pictures.
