I had a fun day this past Sunday. I woke up to a slightly warm yet foggy rainy day and checked the weather to see that it would be a 0% chance of rain all day. Sweet! I figured the fog would burn off, and conditions would be slick but doable and it would be a cool race day. That was not to be the case. It rained, not very hard but steady. And it rained some more. I gave in to the fact that it was going to be a struggle through the slop but I know I can ride very well in the mud so what the hell. Here we go.
I hit the start hard and got in 3rd wheel and my teammate Shernce was raring to go so I let him slip through and followed him through the first section of warthog with the leaders just ahead. Shernce suddenly dropped his chain and had to stop so I kept going with Fast Eddie not far behind. I let him go just before Otter Slide and he was gone quickly. So I was now sitting 4th and through the rest of the first lap Gered from VT and Joe Petrarca came up from behind and I had to let Gered go through as he was moving fast. From a chat with him as we prerode earlier, Gered said he got 7th at Hop Brook so I knew he was solid. Anyway so now sitting in 5th and it was just Joe and I. We stayed together for the first lap and started the second together but he was just riding the slop better. I let him go figuring I would use him and try to shed him on the 3rd lap. That wasn't the case.
I just couldn't dig that deep for some reason and that extra gear was not there. On top of that I made a few mistakes following Joe and the gap opened. So I stayed steady in 6th and figured I'd try to reel him in on the last lap. At the top of the climb on the last lap I see Ben W walking backwards on the course not looking good - turns out he separated his shoulder. I asked him if he was ok but he wasn't. He had people with him so I kept on. I rode hard but Joe was riding just as well. I caught a glimpse of Joe and I was closing the gap but I think he had about a minute on me at the end. It was a hard day in those trails. It was a greasy, slimy mess but was tons of fun. It made for a hard race but all the more fun. I was happy to keep it upright and have a solid finish. 5th of 9 starters. Good day considering what the meteoroligists called a 0% chance of showers
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