(Barriers -- weeee!)Headed to Seattle this weekend for Starcrossed and Rapha Focus GP UCI races. Course features included twists and turns around a grassy tree filled landscape; a short ride through sand followed by a long and grueling run through more sand; and a barrier and flyover combination ideally situated by the beer garden. It was a fast dry course on Saturday and while mother nature tried hard to bring rain on Sunday, she fell a bit short of providing ideal mud conditions and only brought a few damp corners in the end. The UCI status attracted a number of strong contenders from the US as well as from Canada and beyond.
For Saturday's Starcrossed race, I had a slow start, but moved my way through the field until I settled with a group of 3 racing for 5th place. I tried to get away and keep moving up at first, but when I could not shed the other two riders, I settled in and tried to conserve energy on the windy parts of the course. I attacked again on the last lap, but it came down to a sprint and my slow-twitch legs mustered up just enough to take 5th!
In the Rapha Focus GP the next day I managed to get an even worse start off the line, but after a lap the lead group was in sight. As I latched on to the group of 5 riders, my rear brake came undone and I had to finish half a lap with 1 brake and pit the bike. Aspen was my trusty pit crew this weekend and he got me rolling on the A bike half a lap later, but after two stops by the pit, I had fallen a number of spots. I chased my way back to 5th and found myself in a similar spot to the previous race. This time I did not try to conserve anything, but kept chasing hard in an attempt to move up. In the end I was unable to reach the riders ahead of me but was able to pull out another sprint for 5th again! I improved on my results from last year and had a ton of fun racing with a deep field -- it's going to be a fun season ahead!
(Lots of sand -- ouch!)
