The quick report. The race took place just off the relief route in santa fe. A nice flat area. Or so I thought. (foreshadowing, nice eh?)
I geared up to a massive 34-16, I stayed up late the night before at a dinner party, I ate a big oatmeal banana and coffee breakfast and went down to the race site with Elena and my ma who was visiting. It was cold and overcast.
Isaac and me gunning it from the line clickforbig
The race was pretty big. 22 Single speeders. We started in the third wave after the pros and male and female experts. I started really hard chasing after wunderkid Isaac (see the soccorro race). I think we had a 200 yard gap on the rest of the huge field after a half mile or so of slight climbing. Then there was a fast tricky descent. I immediately noticed that Isaac downhills effortlessly while I did not. I fell back a bit, got caught by some of the faster descenders. Then we hit the rollers. They were very steep rollers. I suffered. My nice big breakfast revealed itself to be not really that digested. I was overgeared and suffering. Pretty much the entire race passed me, including my arch nemesis Jessica, and I was in 15 or 16th after the first lap.
my arch nemesis distancing me on the first lap click for big
Suddenly I noticed that I felt better after one lap. I hammered down. Passed a mechanically waylayed Jessica and started picking off other racers. I was still hurting but going MUCH faster this lap.
feeling good enough to smile click for big
Toward the end I passed two other single speeders. The laps end in a nice long gradual climb. I thought they were well passed, but Karl a crafty ex-pro torqued me in the sprint for 10th. Dammit. Results here. Turns out the stomach malaise had almost exactly the same effect as my flat tire in the soccorro XC race.
Outsprinted but good by tecate Karl click for big
All told it is a great race, a really fun course, 9.5 mile laps with 1100 feet climbing per lap, all on deceptively steep rollers. Try to digest and run a 34-18 next year dummy... After the race it snowed on and off all day.
Snow on water street in Santa Fe later that day clickforbig
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