Opening weekend, 2009

This was the first big weekend of racing for the 2009 season. I'm still just getting the riding going so there wasn't much to be expected for results. Mostly, I knew I'd get some good saddle time on the bikes.

Saturday was the first Root 66 series race at Hop Brook Dam. It was also my first race in the Cat 1 field, formerly known as expert. Right off the start I was somewhere near the back. A little way into the first lap I found myself riding closely with two other guys. Shortly into the second lap, one of them found some strength and pulled away. The other got a small gap on me shortly there after. Every time I closed most of the gap I started to make silly mistakes in technical sections of trail. Finally I caught and passed him. Now, as far as I could figure, this might have been the race to not be DFL. I did not want to be last. Starting the third and final lap, I dug deep and tried to prevent my competitor from passing, and to my pleasure, I found that I was pulling away. I dug deeper. Success ensued, I managed to completely lose him and finish relatively strong.

Did I mention that the race was just that much tougher because of the rain that fell during our entire bout on course? Well it was, rear tires were sliding around going up some of the hills. There was actually more traction in the wet leaves then in the clear line that people were following up the hills.

Upon just checking the results, I found that I actually placed 15th in a deep field of 19 guys.

After my race, I stuck around to watch Taylor in the Cat 2 race. It continued to rain throughout their race as well. Our friend John was also racing in Cat 2, so I got to cheer for a few guys. It was rather fun to watch despite the significant moisture. I jumped around the course and tried to grab some good photos. You can be the judge by looking at them here.