Every year I look forward to this race. Every year it gets my attention. This year was no different. Normally at this time of the year the ground is frozen solid. Snow is falling. This course with its short grass becomes a drag strip inter-spaced with a few tight hard corners and a run-up. This year was different. Its November and we've not had a single frost all winter. It's warm. Unseasonably so.
An easy drive up with Tim lamenting the season that wasn't for me, and the season that is for Tim. A year ago the boy couldn't take a single corner at speed...now...well he can....mostly. Park up, sign on, watch the muddy MTBers and decide that Rhino's are going on, muds for Tim, muds for everyone. Good choice.
Start was narrow. The first turn for the hole shot narrow. The next section narrow with people who couldn't ride it. Ahh the joys of a shit gridding. The rest of the lap was a mixture of deep rutted mud. Slip-sliding corners. A horrendous fast section along the bottom broken by narrow dead turns. Into the 180's that cost me a great finish last year against Glen Kinning. A run up for many, a ride for few, followed by a long drag to the start.
7 laps. I fell asleep for two and dropped off my bunch. Although I lost focus this is the first race I rode above threshold for the entire race. Both power and heart rate were where they should have been. Not as high as last season. But the highest so far this season. I might make it to Natz this year. Just a matter of playing it safe and staying healthier than the other 19 people who beat me.
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