Day 2. Drive back to Boone before the sun is up. It is still windy, cold, and course is more rutted.
I arrived with plenty of time to change and warm up. The field is much larger (twice the size) and we are the first race of the day (old guys, 35+,45+,55+ Cat 4) This is the race I care about and started strong again, there was a lot more pushing and such throughout the first lap, but I was riding my race, letting folks go that were faster and racing to catch anyone in front of me. I settled into my position in the middle and ran down several racers on the last lap. 26th out of the 57 finishers and 12th in my age group. (That moves me into 10th in age group for the series) I stayed around and cheered for friends, had a nice lunch and debated about racing the open Cat 4 race when another rider was begging for a helmet (he left his at home) I had a spare and since I had to wait, I might as well race ; )
81 riders lined up for the open Cat 4..... That is correct 81! My legs were smoked so I lined up on the last row and planned to use the race as practice of catching and passing riders, you know the 70 or so in front of me.... the whistle blows and we slowly start.... how fast can 81 riders go down a chute, U turn and hit a long run up? From there I was just having fun, my bike was hooked up and I was passing folks. I had no idea where I was in the field, just trying to catch the guy in front. I finished 57 of the 77 finishers. I was happy with that!
This was a fun course, flats, 2 run ups, a stage "fly over" half a lap on an old dirt race track, slick switch backs and free food on Sunday.
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