Prespiration at the Pig

Phrase of the day- "Wow its Hot!" I think I heard Bruce make that statement about 100 times today - that was the understatement of the Summer. White wave started at 0930 and by 0940 I was sweating like it was cool I could only imagine what the Sport/Expert racers where feeling as I watched Charles and Noah do their 3 laps starting at 1130. I finally raced the hardtail for the first time ever after 4yrs of nothing but FS I took the Vertex-70 out and placed 6th at the Pig, my best finish in any event since I started racing(Things that make you go hmmmm). The support and preparation for this event was outstanding as was evident by how well the course was groomed and marked. Also excellent was the motivation provided by the volunteers that were all along the course cheering on the riders. My start was a little slow but there was plenty of area to pass and spread the field out before entering the tight twisty single track(I love that stuff!). I managed to get in the dirt in a loose rocky are of the trail on my first lap but otherwise kept it rubber side down for the entire race. Cleaned Chandlers Challenge on both laps, not in the Big ring like Charles did though(You Stud!). In my group Ron Fields placed 2nd to a serious sandbagger - anyone who can beat Ron by 2.4min definitely is sandbagging if they are in the beginner class! Monti took a 2nd in his Sport Class, Jesse did a strong finish in his class as well not sure were he finished, and Stan finished 1st for the Grandmaster class all had outstanding races. Charles and Noah finished strong especially considering neither of them has raced all season. I hung out to help clean up a little bit but even with all the water I was drinking I still had a headache from the heat and had to bail before the banquet. It was a great day overall and a good finish to the GSC series. I missed my goals for the season but am already looking forward to next year were hopefully I will be home enough to participate in a few more races and eventualy get on the podium. Unfortunately I will miss both the 13hrs of Santos and the 12hrs of Dauset both events I would like to do solo but will have to wait until next year to see if I am around for it. Anyway i will probably just chill out this week and hopefully hit Dauset twice before I have to depart for a little while so if your out there and riding I will See You on the Trail!