Race Day #5 - My First Second

Race Day #5 was another CU Short Track Mountain Bike Race. But before we get there, maybe the Tuesday ride before is worth telling. I rode Bergen Peak/Elk Meadows with Adam, Brant, and Nate. Good ride on the way up, and descending is always a blast. Trying to move trees with your face, however, is not. Yep. Man meets tree, man loses to tree, man bleeds from ear with scratches on face, neck, shoulder, elbows and legs. It was a slow motion crash but my last thought before impact was, "I'm going to wake up in the hospital." Brant's thought was that I had broken my collar bone. Fortunately, neither of these was true and I walked away (actually rode) with only some blood. Even though I ultimately lost, I'll still take it as a win!

Fast forward to the next day and I was a little sketchy on if I wanted to race but decided I would. After heading up to Boulder with Brant I didn't know what to expect. It was a tight and technical course given all the hard turns. I was able to line up in the front and was in 5th out of the hole shot. Some guy crashed in front of me and I thought I was going down too but was able to move, which meant I was in fourth. Around the first lap I bounced up to second and since the leader wasn't going that fast, and I was afraid of others catching back on, made my pass and didn't look back. That's only because I could see people after doing switchbacks so I didn't need to look back. I led the race for a couple laps but knew there was one guy gaining on me, and sure enough, he caught and passed me. Two laps later he crossed the line in first and despite my best efforts, I was about 10 seconds behind him.......in second! I realized that I really don't know how to race from the front, mainly since this is the first time I've ever had to, but I'm willing to learn and figure it out! I was also pretty pumped that I was on the (virtual) podium for the first time in 6 years of racing. Not bad considering I tried chopping down a tree with my face the day before!