I’ve raced this now in 2006, 2008, and 2009…  This year I was 24th out of about 40 in my division– about the same place as normal, which is somewhere near the back end of the middle of the pack.  (I’ve never been that fast in this short of a race, which took me about an hour and 15 minutes).

I had planned on scooting up a bit closer to the front this year to work for position, since it is about a 50 yard sprint in a mass start to the single track.  But somehow there were a lot more people, and there were 3 categories mixed at the start line.  Each category started a couple minutes apart, but I couldn’t get up as close as I would have liked even though I got to the start 10 minutes before the gun.

I may have finished a bit higher if I had started closer to the front.  There was one rider that I thought would have been in the clydesdale category but who was in my division.   I tried to pass him twice on the 1st loop, once to get knocked down by him on a hill (it was not his fault, just happens), and the 2nd time just lost my back wheel and fell.  The 1st time, I probably lost 8-10 spots as it was still early in the race and we were all bunched up.  I finally got by him about 1/2 mile before the start of the 2nd loop.  At the end of the day, it probably didn’t matter much, as the 2nd loop I only got passed once and probably only passed 2 other riders.

Happy fun racing put on a great, low key race, and I will definitely be back.

And thanks for the photos…  Great shots!