For this year's State Game's Race, relocated to the Ridgeland Trails from Butt's Park, my strategy was different than usual. This was my first XC Cat 1 race, so I decided to stay back at first to see how things played out. I was intentionally last (5th) into the woods. As the top two guys rode away, I quickly realized the rest of us were competing for third. Halfway through the first lap, I moved to fourth, then third in the second lap when the guy in front of me stopped to put air in his tire.
The course started and ended with a really fast, open downhill section - maybe the only single track where I've used the top gear on my bike. I got near horizontal in the berms at the bottom. I was flying. I knew the top two guys were incredibly fast, but I was at least going to try to catch them.
In the third and fourth laps I burped my front tire three times and had to really be careful during the last mile or so running on about 10 psi. It was in these laps that I passed the most people, mostly Cat 3's I assume. By this time they were pretty spaced out, and every rider I passed was just a little bit faster than the last.
I finished in third place, 7 minutes behind first. That's a big gap! Still, my confidence is boosted now. In the next race, I aim to be second into the woods and hang on as long as I can.
