Back to it in Sacto

After two weeks away from racing and heavy training I finally felt good enough to get back to it up at Granite beach, Folsom Lake Rich Maile setup an excellent course featuring a long lap of excellent single track,long stretch of pavement, deep sand run, and even some fast grass sections. All the A's (open, 35+, 45+) started together in what would be a 60 minute race, ouch ! I staged well and jumped hard on the line to get in the long lead group at the start. It got a little argy-bargy around the first few corners but I stayed aggressive and won each little battle for position. There were a few early stack ups which I mostly avoided and found myself in the first chase group of around 8 riders on the long road section. Another stack up in the sand pit which I jogged around. Lap 2 I'm still holding on to the first chase group but full in the red zone. On lap 3 I'm starting to loose connection and feeling bad. Ease off some for lap 4, as 3 riders from behind catch, I latch on and spend lap 5 drafting on the long straight sections. I'm in a group of 3 content to hold my position and wait for some one to make a mistake. One rider does and he's off the back. More drafting as we catch up to another 2 riders who had lost the chase group. 3 to go and its a race, I'm not taking pulls and looking for a place on the course to try to break. On lap 2 I come around at the end of the long road section and get a gap on a the bumpy up hill leading to the sand pit. Good entry into the sand but poor exit and they are back on me ! Final lap we are all together, one rider falls on the barrier remount but gets back on quick. He goes by and goes to the front, ok fine. I'm 4th wheel coming off the road and to the sand pit lead up, there's an attack and a split as I can't get around the 3rd wheel, damn. Through the sand and onto the finish and I take the 3rd wheel in a sprint to finish 8th overall.

Excellent and fun race, after 3 laps of pain I was able to break through the wall, settle in and finish strong. Pics when I get them.