Up before dawn to eat, dress, load up, and drive to Lake Sonoma. Beautiful and chilly morning. Lots of eager folks out. 130 participants.
The course was a classic from back in the day. A 5 mile loop of technical single track. Almost all of it either up and muddy or down and sketch. No place to recover really. Just hit the gas and hope you don't run out of fuel before the appointed time. I didn't place highly, but I did what I'd come to do.
First lap - took it easy to learn the course and get used to my new bike. Second lap - slowly build the tempo without blowing up. Last lap - I'd say "pour it on" but really it was just "finish with some to spare".
My watch said 35 minute laps for a total time of 1 hour 50 mins. My official time was 2 hours 1 min. Not complaining either way. I went faster than the last time I was there, which admittedly wasn't gonna be hard to do.
Really the best part was the cheering section! Jessica rounded up her folks and our dear friends to come out and holler and ring cowbells! They really got into it. We all stuck around for the burgers & beer. I was proud to show them what I'm really into. Glad to say they "got it".
After the race, we all palled around in Sonoma county. A little wine tasting, a visit to the Voigt ranch, chillin' at home with CV2. Couldn't have been a better weekend.
Thanks to Jessica for being the most awesome team-car driver / photographer / cheerleader a weekend warrior could ever want. And thanks to Ma & Pa and CV2 for coming out to add to the mayhem!
And again thanks to Aaron, Stef, and Ari at Bespoke Cycles for supporting my bike habit!
edit: Official results got posted just a bit ago. My watch was correct after all! Average lap times around 37 minutes! w00t!
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