Portland Short Track Series (Race 1, 4 and 5)

Wow, have I been slacking in the Race report department… Therefore, I’m going to do a combo report on the last 3 Short Track Races I have competed in (since the end of June). Technically there have been 5, but I’ve only been able to race 3 of them. So, without further ado…

Portland Short Track Racing
Portland International Raceway (PIR)
June 22, July 13, July 20th (2 more left in the series btw)

PIR is once again hosting the the PDX short track series on Monday nights. This I believe is the 5th year. The race series takes place at Portland International Raceway (PIR) on a track that consisted of the motocross track as well as some single track weaving through the trees in the infield of the racetrack. The course changes on a weekly basis, but the theme remains the same. Coincidentally, the weekly PIR road bike race was happening on the main (paved) raceway at the same time, so there were cyclists & fans everywhere.

The single speed races started @ 6:30 under warm summer skies (It was around 95 this past week) with up to 60+ SS riders on some nights jockeying for position after the starting gun to get a lead up to the first big set of whoop dee doos.The race weaved around the track and as usual I tried to get a good position before a steep 'run up' (which was actually totally rideable as long as there was no one slower in your way). In typical Porter style, I’ve consistently had poor starting positions. 1 week it was nerves, then next was due to a Le Mans start and this final week I just don’t have an excuse… I’m just not the fast off the gun I guess. Something to work on for cross I think.

I am faster than most of the riders out here in the SS class, so I am at least able to pick them off and had fun doing the course - riding the whoopee’s, jumping the berms, riding the log barriers they layout on the course and trying to catch as much air on the big bumps. It was fun and fast.
Each race is similar, but also different. It’s a great way to spend a summer evening. The added benefit, is that there are kids races so I had my brood out there mixing it up as well and both placing quite well in their ‘categories’.

In summary (since this is a summarized race report of 3 races) is as follows:

June 22: 6th Place
July 13: 10th Place
July 20th: 6th place.

My goal is of course to always place in the top ten, but my ‘real goal’ is to break the top 5 or even 3 (I did it once last year). I’ve got 2 more races to try to accomplish this.

Oh, and I should mention, this race series is the first racing I've done on my new 29er SS. A Salsa Selma... A report should be coming on this sweet bike if I ever get off my duff!

Cheers.

Slinging Mud at the Mudslinger

21st Annual Peak Sports Mudslinger
Oregon State Mountain Bike Championship Race
Single Speed
May 4, 2009
Philomath, OR

The drive over in the morning provided a little foreshadowing of conditions to come with heavy rain falling as we turned off I-5 onto the road into Philomath. The rain itself slowed down as we pulled into the parking area and the group of us head to registration. By the time we got out the rain stopped and the Oregon spring sunshine started heating things up. Granted, this did nothing for the water logged trails as we would soon find out.

The 21st annual 'Mudslinger' definately lived up to it's name.

Riders tackled single track trail sections intermixed with between gravel fire road climbs over 24 miles and almost 4ooo feet of climbing. The large single speed group (27 riders) took off at a break neck speed. I was off at the front of the group feeling overly confident for the first 3 mile climb until a group of 3-4 riders took off and splintered the group. Within 30 minutes the group was spread out and I was riding solo. I managed to catch a couple of riders and a couple caught up with me. I pressed on and hit the single track downhill. Slip sliding down the Panama Canal trail (going down once), brakes locked up, side ways sliding, realizing that I've been on the road bike to much and not with not enough time on the mountain bike. Lots more fire road climbing and single track with names I can't remember.

Finished the race in 2:06 which was good enough for 5th place. All in all a great but hard race.

2009 Hornings Hustle Mountain Bike Race

April 5, 2009
Hornings Hideaway, North Plains Oregon

"In it to win it"

This was the 1st Mountain bike race of the year for me. The weather couldn't be better (70s) and the dirt was about as perfect as can be for an early April race.

I raced single speed as is the norm over the past couple of seasons. I lined up with the group of single speeders and scoped out the competition. I usually recognize most of the guys, but this time it was mostly guys I didn't recognize. Lots of dudes from Bend, Eugene, etc and not much in the way of a Portland showing, which is weird as this is the closest race on the schedule to Portland.

Like last year, the race was a circuit, meaning it had 5 mile laps and we did multiples. This can be a fun way to race because it allows you to try and retry different lines. Kind of like a cross race. The difference, was that the number of laps was fixed. Single speeders only did 3 which for an early seaon race on this course was plenty. We seemed to be either climbing or descending.

Back to the start. The gun went off and the group charged - A couple of guys in a full spring up the hill. I initially had a sinking feeling about being able to keep up right off the bat but I sucked it up and pulled infront of most of the guys. One dude (on a SS flat bar cross bike with carbon wheels no less) and I played a bit of cat and mouse with me catching him and him taking off. His much lighter skinny tired bike had a definate advantage on the long sustained climb, but it was overwhelmed on the technical descents. Mid way into the first lap (on the downhill single track) he went down and I made my move. He sprung up and was on my tail pretty quickly but I definately had the advantage at that point and I pulled away from him at the first water crossing.

Thankfully, I got faster with each lap and started passing the 1/2 geared riders (that started ahead of the single speeders). I also started lapping the riders that started after the SS group.

1 hour 32 minutes after I started I rolled into the finish area, asked the promoter "3 laps, right?" He said yes and tried to get me to do another one... after a bit of convincing he realized that I was indeed finished - 5-6 minutes ahead of the next closest single speeder.

Not bad for an early season race on a bike I haven't ridden since December...

aaahhh, SNAP

You know what sucks? Being half way through a 27 mile mountain bike ride and having your seat post bolt snap. Yeah, that sucks...

I was doing a night ride this evening with teamie Nelson. We were in Forest Park and almost to firelane 5... I was on my single speed. I briefly sat down and SNAP.... suddenly no seat. I looked around on the ground and found my seat and seat post components. Apparently the bolt snapped.

At that point, my options were to either turn around or proceed. We were almost to FL 5, so I opted to press on to at least enjoy the short fun part of the ride (the only legal single track). We did opt to return back after FL5 though instead of pressing on. 9 miles later my legs were screaming. on the way home I stopped at Nelson's house and we jimmy rigged a bolt into the seat post clamp. It was loose but at least got me home.

This is btw the best time of year to be night riding...

Tahoe 2008

Got back from a week in Tahoe a couple of days ago (ok, it was a week ago).


I got some good rides, hikes and in general family time.

Helmet cam to follow..

Here is a couple of good shots that summarize the week:

The kids on a family ride

At the top of Mr. Toads. About ready to descend 3K... The lake is in the distance.

Simon and Dad - out for a 'big' ride.

Short Track #5

Portland Short Track #5
Portland International Raceway
SS category
July 21, 2008

Again, I'm tardy in publishing this race report as I've had a ton going on with a really busy work schedule, and our upcoming vacation.

I had an almost perfect starting position and a good (not great) start. I made it into the first corner with the top 10 guys and mananged to stick with this group for the rest of the race, working my way up to a finishing placement of 4th (out of 54 folks). The course as usual was different than the previous weeks. The organizers added in a couple of logs and even a stretch of pavement(!). Fun times.

This is my last STXC of the year and probably my last race until 'cross starts so I'll do a quick recap:

#1: 3rd place
#3: 18th place
#4: 6th place
#5: 4th place


As compared to last year...

#1 22nd
#2 10th
#4 8th
#5 8th


Whoah - in a good way. Same as last year 3 top 10s, but in reality the competition was harder this year and I placed higher in each of the races. My best 3 races this year placed higher than my best all around last year.

I am bummed to miss the final race, but I should be having fun regardless :).

Portland Short Track Racing #1

June 23, 2008
Portland International Raceway - infield
Single Speed

I knew it must finally be summer as I rode my mountain bike from downtown in the summer evening sun out to the race track. A beautiful evening with sun shining and the crowds of cyclists all around (roadies on the race track, mtn bikers on the infield). This is my 3rd season racing SS STX and I definitely have something to prove. Last year I did a couple top tens, but for the most part I had a pretty mediocre season. My first race in the series last year resulted in a crash.

If I've learned anything from 'cross, it's that a good crash is critical to a good finish. I took that to heart and got a good starting position on the right side and after the starting bell I took off and took the hole shot. Next thing I knew, I'm with the lead rider - Weaver - the series winner for the past 2 years. Although he was going fast, it didn't fell like I couldn't at least hang on, so I went for it.

A lap later I'm still sitting in 2nd when another guy comes screaming around me. I wasn't sure who it was so I returned the favor on the whoop dees and went around him. We did this a few times until he (ended up being Butler) put the hammer down and him and Weaver started pulling away.

I kept up my pace and ended up the race in 3rd place. My best result in a short track race in 3rd place our of 48 riders. (Big Group!)

Update: Video of Monday's race. All Categories including Kiddies


2008 Short Track Series - RACE 1 from Scott Barker on Vimeo.

On a more somber note, mid way through the race a fellow racer (30 yrs old) collapsed from a cardiac arrest. More info on this at BikePortland.org. Scary stuff, but as it turns out the first responders did all the right things and the fellow is going to be just fine.

Falls City Firecracker Presented by Cyclepath

Sunday June 1 2008
Falls City Oregon
Single Speed

The promoters were serving pain by the cup and I was drinking it by the pitcher. This is a great mountain bike race and one of my favorite of the year. Half Fast Velo (another local team) puts on the race and Cyclepath is the primary sponsor. It takes place in Falls City at the Black Rock Freeride area.

I awoke in the AM to pouring rain and the sinking feeling that it was going to be an utter slopfest. As I loaded the car and headed to the pick up point for the carpool down I was really feeling a sense of dread about the weather. Thankfully, as we drove south, it dried out and by the time we were in Falls City it was perfect.

The race was billed as 80% single track which in my opinion was pretty accurate. The course itself was a multi-lap format where each lap was about 4.5 miles with 1400 feet of elevation gain per lap. Basically, each lap consisted of a prolonged uphill grind up single track and fireroad and then a bombing single track & fire road descent. The promoter of the race did incorporate some routes that had ladders and drops into the course which did add to the excitement. It also pushed my rigid single speed to it's limit.

The race start & finish was midway up the fire road climb which resulted in both the start and the finish being on a hill (nice...). At the starting gun, I took off from the very back of the pack. I spent the first part of the climb working through a mass of bodies and was towards the front by the time we hit the first single track section.

By the time I made it to the top and the beginning of the downhill there were about 4-6 guys ahead of me. I picked a couple of them off on the descent and all but one on the next climb/descent combo.

Ended up finishing the race in 2nd place. The 'other' guy was Nelson Snyder. A Cyclepath Teamie and my copilot on the drive down to the race. I can't say I am disappointed.

Short Track #6

July 30, 2007
Portland International Raceway
Portland, OR

Per my earlier post, I'm way late on my post. So late, that I can't really remember all the details of the last race in the Portland Short Track series other than as usual it was a great race (as usual) and I'm sad (but also glad) that the series is over. To make a potentially long story short, I took 8th place (another top 10!). On a related note, Mr. Cross National Champ showed up for the first time of the year raced and took first...

Anyway, sweet race, sweet series.

Cross starts in 2 months...

Summit2Surf, STXC, Tahoe, oh my

Lots of things have been going on since my last post. In particular, I've done a few notable cycling events - Summit 2 Surf (a fund raiser for the American Diabetes Association), The last Short Track race of the season and a trip to Tahoe for my big sisters wedding (Congrats Barry & Michele!).

I'll followup with a separate post on the last short track race, but will mention a couple of the other events here. First and foremost, the the Summit 2 Surf (S2S). Megan and I rode on the WebMD 'team' which consisted of a coed group of hardy souls that opted to spend a beautiful Saturday going up and over Mt Hood from Welches to Hood River (a couple of us also extended the ride by going to Timberline Lodge (where the outside scenes of the first 'The Shining' was filmed. The one with Jack's famous line: 'Heeeeeeres Johnnnnnny').




Let me back up a bit though.

A week before S2S I did a ride with a visiting coworker from out Boston office. I took him on an early morning road ride in the hills above Portland. It rained HEAVILY. Anyway, my Paul cantilevers on my cross bike are usually bombproof, but on this particular ride they were just not working very well so I stopped periodically to adjust them. In the process, I managed to strip the cable holding bolt on my rear brake which forced me to remove it and bring the brake into Cyclepath. There, Bill did a helio coil fix (rethreading the threads) and I was back in business. 3 days before S2S, I had my bike up on the rack and I was putting the brake back on. I got it on and decided to oil my chain. Unfortunately, I had hung my bike on the rack via the top tube and when I adjusted the frame position I did the following...

uh oh

Total rookie maneuver... Note to self - in the future only clamp bike stand to seat post...

Any, return to story. I had just catastrophically damaged my bike in a single maneuver... I freaked out, went online and found out that others have had the same issue (I love the Internets). I went ahead and JB welded the piece back on, let it set for 24 hours, added more JB Weld, let that cure and then went on a test ride the day before S2S! SUCCESS!

I was very close to riding the 68 miles with 6200 feet of gain and 7K of decline on my fixed gear (I really need to get a 'real' road bike... anyone out there have any connections????). Although that would have been a great story, I think I would be needing knee surgery...

Anyway, back to the story. On Saturday July 28th a group of WebMD employees, spouses and friends earned some cash for the ADA. Good times, extremely well organized and well worth it.

Andrew & I starting off.

The more beautiful half of team Porter

On another note, as mentioned above, the family converged on Lake Tahoe for a combo 'Granny Camp'/ Wedding celebration. I managed to sneak in a few rides as well. One on Mr Toads Wild Ride (my favorite trail of all time), and one on the X-mas Valley Trail with Megan and "Grandpa' Dave. Another epic ride in the area of my folks cabin. Speaking of which, if anyone out there ever wants to vacation in South Lake Tahoe, my folks have a great rental property, and my step dad Dave is a great mtn bike tour guide.

Ergon Grips Gear Review

A friend of mine recently loaned me some Ergon R2 Magnesium grips to try out. I put them on my 29er Single Speed (Soma Juice). The bike has a rigid fork, so I thought that the Ergonomic shape of the grips would provide a bit of padding on my hands. Also, although I don't like bar ends, there is something to be said about them for their hand positions - especially when you are climbing a fireroad on a single speed.


In the past month that I've had them installed, I've ridden them on quite a few rides - mostly in Forest Park and I really like them as they did help pad my hands - providing just enough to take the edge off as well as take away unnecessary pressure.

The exception to this, is I had them on my bike for the first Short Track Race. If you read that report, you'll notice that it really wasn't my best showing. I kind of blame the crash on the grips. At the start I was neck and neck with the front of the pack. The bar ends seemed to have gotten caught a couple of times on other riders and I think ultimately resulted in me losing control.

So, in summary, these are great grips, just don't to a tight fast race with them.

Portland Short Track #2

Portland Short Track Series
Race #2
July 2nd, 2007
Portland International Raceway (PIR)

Picture courtesy of bikeportland.org

Like the Mount Tabor Series, Portland Short Track is another week day (after work) racing series that happens every year here in Portland.

I missed the first one as it happened to land on my wife's birthday, so I was quite anxious at the start of this weeks race.

I rode out to Portland International Raceway (about a 6-7 mile ride from downtown) to revel in the whoops, turns and twists of the popular MTB Short Track course. (200+ racers showed up this week (for all categories).

The gun went off, I tore into the first turn hot, and bam next thing I knew, I was on the ground along with a couple of other guys. I picked myself and my bike out of the dirt and jump back on the saddle. Unfortunately, the damage was done and I lost my chance at a good placing. I played the rest of the race trying to catch up. I had a few more problems over the next 6 laps - my front skewer was loose (due to the crash) and I opted to stop and fix it over the chance of losing teeth in the event of my front wheel coming off. Then, I got lost on the course (how does one get lost on a STX course?).

Not to complain. The race was great fun and well run as always. Plus, you need to have bad races to appreciate the good ones. I ended up in 22nd place out of about 40 single speeders. We all did 6 laps on a beautiful summer evening. How bad can it be?

Falls City Firecracker presented by Cyclepath

'Mountain Biking'
Sung to the tune of 'Kung Fu Fighting'

Everybody was mountain biking
Those dudes were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they rode with expert timing

There was lots of single track in this built up ewok town
They were riding it up and they were riding it down
It's an ancient Marin art and everybody knew their part
From a hucking a gap, and sprinting from the start

Everybody was mountain biking
Those dudes were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they rode with expert timing

There was spandex clad dudes and baggy shorts too
The downhill singletrack came round, smoking fast, cool
We took a jump and made a stand, started sliding down the trail
The sudden motion made me skip now we're on a downhill rail

Everybody was mountain biking
Those dudes were fast as lightning
In fact it was a little bit frightning
But they rode with expert timing

(repeat)..make sure you have expert styling
Mountain Biking, had to be fast as lightning

Falls City Firecracker Presented by Cyclepath

The stats:

• May 20th, 2007
• Falls City, Oregon - Black Rock Freeride area
• First Race of the year
• My First Mountain bike race in over 5 years(excluding Short track)
• 2nd place finish (Sport class)

This past weekends race took place at the Black Rock Freeride 'park' - Basically an area outside of Salem, OR (Falls City) owned by the Oregon Department of Forestry that has been designated as a recreation area. The Black Rock Mountain Biking Association has been busy building up a really nice freeride area there (lots of ladders, jumps, skinnies, gaps, drops, as well as lots of trails) for the past couple of years. The course itself was a multi-lap format where each lap was about 4.5 miles with 1000 feet of elevation gain per lap. Basically, each lap consisted of a prolonged uphill grind up a combo fire road & single track and then a bombing single track & fire road descent. The promoter of the race did incorporate some routes that had ladders and drops into the course which did add to the excitement and made me glad I was riding my 5 inch travel full suspension Titus Motolite. (The Motolite was probably the least cross country oriented bike to make a showing though).

Cyclepath has been the title sponsor of the race for the past couple of years. I missed it last year, so I made a point to race it this year even though I had really low expectations. My main goal was to be there to support the shop as they have been so great for me. The race itself was good fun and the Cyclepath team was out in force (A Cyclepath rider took 1st in the SS), though it was quite wet and muddy which did make some of the ladders slippery. I did admittedly race pretty conservatively though.

The race start & finish was midway up the fire road climb which resulted in both the start and the finish being on a hill (nice...). At the starting gun, I took off with the pack and proceeded to pick off a few riders here and there, about .5 miles into the climb I was at the front with 2 other guys (on Single Speeds!). 2 other guys - another SSer and another geared rider were close on my tail.

By the top of the climb, I was still hanging in with the top 5 guys (3 single speeders and the one guy in my class). I managed to stick with them for the descent and much of the start of the 2nd lap, however at that point they began to pull away (a bit) and we basically stayed in this position until the end of the race. I pretty much raced solo for the remainder of the race, lapping the occasional slow rider here and there. I finished about 1 minute behind the leader and at least 3-4 minutes ahead of #3.

Sorry, no pictures this time as my photog had prior commitments with the family.

New Title

Taking a page from my friend, teammate and fellow blogger, I've decided to rename my blog (for the 3rd time) to something a bit more "me".

I still like the name "Axles of Evil". I thought of it soon after the infamous Axis of Evil speech by our "fearless" leader. Unfortunately, alot of others also thought about it, including a bike polo team here in Portland.

I then changed the name to "Two Wheels Only" (or TWO). I liked it, but it never really fit.

"The Lunch Time Grind" came to me on a lunch time ride this afternoon. As a full time working parent I do most of my training rides in during the week - My regular commute to and from work, lunch time rides and either long rides in or long rides home. Weekend rides are few and far between, so they are a luxury (Especially mtn bike rides!). I do however get out with the family (trail-a-bike in tow) on a regular basis, so I can't complain about that.

I *think* some people might be interested in a working dads racing and riding experiences, right?

peace

Titus Demo Days!

Titus Demo Days

Sunday April 29th was Titus Demo Days - presented by Cyclepath - out in Scappoose. There was a road ride on Saturday that I had to miss, so I'm not going to write about that.

Anyway, the Titus rep was out with tons of bikes - MotoLite, RacerX, RacerX 29er, El Guappo... I really wanted to ride the El Guappo or the 29er, but my primary reason for going out there was to get Megan out on a sweet ride. Once she was setup to go on a small Moto, we were off (I actually just rode my own bike)

I have written about Scappoose in the past, so I'm not going to delve into that, except to note that the trails were in awesome shape, there is new signage (Thanks John Joy!), and some new trails.

A group of us went out - Megan, John, Jonathan, Bill and I - and instantly hit the trails starting with Dead Dog. I was excited to see Meg nail the teeter totter on her first attempt! After that, we hit North Shore where Bill, Jonathan and I tried out the gap ju mp. This was personal first for me, and something I have been wanting to try for quite some time. After Bill did it, I had to try it. It was so fun I did it 3 more times. Props to Jonathan for doing it multiple times - even though he was super nervous.

checking out the jump

Bill hiking up the hill to do the jump (again)

landing the gap

Anyway, it was all in all a great day riding with good people. I wish the pictures did it justice.

Props to the shop

Falls City Fire Cracker

Also, most likely my first race of the 2007 season...

Soma Juice...

The new Soma Juice I mentioned way back here. is finally done. Actually, it has actually been completed for a month or so. Thus far it has been mostly ridden around town and with the family 'trailer bike in tow', though it has also been on a couple Forest Park rides (Forest park is a huge urban park here in Portland. The trailhead is about 1 mile from my new office, so hitting the trails at lunch will become a sweet summer time activity). The first time in "The Park", I basically stayed on the dirt road that leads through it cause everything was pretty mucky. Today however I rode with a coworker (on a geared bike no less) and we hit the firelanes - Up firelane 1 to Skyline, down firelane 2 firelane 3 and then down lower firelane 1 to hwy 30 and back to the office. It was still pretty muddy on the firelanes, but all in all worth it as I really got to get the feel for the bike.



I love the way it rides - I'm really not seeing much in the way of rear wheel drag (some people complain about 29er bikes feeling like boat anchors when you get them going). The thing climbs like a monkey on crack! I opted for a rigid carbon fork on the bike, so that definately makes it feel different, climbing is much much nicer...

Anyway, I'm stoked on the bike. A shout out to Stan @ Soma and to the guys at Cyclepath for helping me pull together all the missing components.




The stats:

• Soma 29er Juice Frame
• Black Chris King Headset
• Pace Carbon 29er fork
• Easton Seatpost
• IRD Seatpost clamp
• WTB Speed V titanium rails
• RaceFace AlloyAir bars
• RaceFace Prodigy stem
• ODI Lock on Grips
• SRAM 9.0 levers
• Avid BB.7 Mechanical Disc Brakes & Rotors
• Avid Full Metal Jacket Brake Cable System
• RaceFace Turbine (old school) cranks
• RaceFace 36T Chainring
• Time Z Atac petals
• Shimano Square Taper Ultegra BB
• BBG Bashguard
• Avid 8 spd chain
• Bontrager Race Disc wheels with ‘Gusset’ single speed converter
• IRC Mythos F&R 2.1 29er tires

Misc

• Zefal Bottle Cage
• Specialized ‘Turbo’ Odometer
• Jand Mountaineering seat wedge
  
• 2 Spot Brand ‘rocket’ chain tensioners

Riders eye

I don't take a camera on rides very often though I wish I did. Granted, I never have time to take pictures. Anyway, I went riding this past weekend up at Knebal Springs/8-mile/15 mile (Mt Hood Area) with my pal Bryan. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day. Anyway, at one point in the ride I took this shot to see/show what 'my perspective' is. Granted, I'm going slow and I'm looking way to close to my wheel and not where I should be looking...



After taking this shot, I turned and took a picture of Bryan coming up the hill.


On another subject, I thought that I would start posting music to ride your bike to.

This week in the Ipod:
I picked up the new Audioslave album: "Revelations". It's not bad, still not Soundgarden, but alas, you take what you get.

Mechanicals Suck

I was tired, sore, it was around 97 degrees and I was cranky. BUT

I raced a great fast race and was in 5th place and gaining until my chain fell off midway through the race. I put it back on, and it fell off again. I gave up after my 3rd attempt. My second DNF ever. Both related to mechanicals. I've always prided myself in finishing races and now I have another 'Did Not Finish". Pisses me off and bums me out at the same time.

On a side note, they had sprinklers going on the course today so i ended up looking like I had done a cross race. It was funny that I actually had to hose off & scrub my bike on a 97 degree evening.

Portland Mountain Bike Short Track Series #2

Portland International Raceway (PIR) / Motocross course
Portland, OR
July 17, 2006

pre race jitters

Monday night's Portland Short Track single speed race again started under sunny summer evening skies at 6:30. Unbeknownst to me, the course promotor mixes up the course each week so it had a totally different layout than what I expected. (Note to self: Get to venue early enough to preride at least one time...) This week's course consisted of more single track weaving in and out of a grove of trees and less on the moto cross course. I'm fine with the change, however I wished there were more places to pass in the trees as I was often bogged down by inexperienced riders slowly weaving between the tight trees. Most were good about letting you pass, however as you were waiting to do so you watched the race leaders increase their lead.

Coming around the corner onto the moto track

For whatever reason (most likely field size & logistics), the Single Speeders race at the same time as the sport women (vs the sport or expert men). Being that the bulk of the SS riders lapped most of the women's field 2x this resulted in repetitive problems in passing. You could basically win or lose the race based upon whether or not you got in front of a field of slower racers and your competitors did not.

Don't get me wrong, it was a fun night. I did 9 laps & placed 8th (one place better than last week), so at least I am consistent. I know now that my strategy has got to be to get out in front of the group at the start of the race vs. my current 'strategy' of starting slow, picking up speed and spending the race picking off slower riders during the course of the race. I'm one of those racers that take a few laps to get up to 'race speed', and unfortunately, with just 30 minutes of racing you need to be firing on all cylinders from the get go. All in all, I think that Short Track is going to be a great primer for cross this year.