Today I put together a solid race for the XC here at the US Nationals at Mt. Snow. We raced four laps of the revised course with more steep climbs and little less singletrack. Steady lap times led me to finish line in 22nd place. Starting from the fifth row was a total mess and within the first six minutes of racing I was off my bike and running at three different places. Troy Wells took a dirt nap just fifty feet up the first climb and I was stuck behind him. A minute later on the steep climb dudes were messing up causing a mass dismount and run up. Then a couple minutes later as we started the steep climb of the main loop we were all off the bikes and running again since one dude botched up his line in front of us. Lap two I did faster than the first and regained some ground on riders in front of me. Lap three was done in the same time and I managed to keep the pace going for the forth and final lap too. I was descending faster on laps three and four once things dried up a bit so it was fun to let the Fourstroke do it’s thing over the gnarly terrain. The ZTR Race’s wrapped in the 2.25″ Racing Ralphs were super fast at 19 psi.
In the past I’ve always had a little fear of this course and racing with a greater level of conservation, especially on the steep climbing sections. This year the shorter laps helped my case and I was able to ride more aggressively when the course was most demanding. Racing with Jesse and Marko has helped me refine this tactic… It was pretty cool to have a lot of fans out there in the woods today. A lot of WI people made the trip out and it was awesome to have their support along the course. It was a great day of racing and I’m excited about tomorrow’s STXC. The legs are feeling alright so we’ll see how things go out there.
Congrats to my main squeeze Chloe for repeating her U23 Title on Thursday. Start to finish she put together a solid race and took a hard earned W. This trip has been great times with excellent friends, old and new. Last night Chloe and I had dinner with a really good high school friend of mine who has since moved out here to Maine… Adventure 212 has made this trip possible and I owe Michelle and Chris a huge thanks. Check back for Short Track, -TJ
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