Bear Creek Final

I'll just start off by saying that the XC race was probably my best preformance all year, and that the Super D was super fun. On Saturday, we got to the mountain just in time for me to get registered and go and pre-ride the Super D course. While I was riding up the course, I could tell that it would end up being a good race. I got to the top and went a moderatly fast speed back down because it's easier to find the best lines that way. A quick adjustment of the pedals and I rode back up to the top. Watched racers start for about an hour until it was time for me to go. I was the second to last person on course. Some spots got better but others just got torn up. The race started off with a kinda rocky section. Not too bad but it really beat some people up. Then onto a loose access road and off a jump into some twisty singletrack. Across another road and more twists to a big steep chute. Gradual uphill to a switchback, under a tree, and a sharp but fast turn into some more rocks. Jump across a bridge and some more tight turns until it opened up for the finish. I made the mistake of trying to shift out of my big chainring, and double shifted making my chain skim off the rings. Despite that problem, my run went really smooth. I finished 12th overall with a time of 6:06. About a minute behind Harlan and 20 seconds behind Brandon.vThe next day was the XC final and it went great. Cameron and Caleb had a big lead through the back of the resort and up to the singletrack. On that first steep climb, I passed Caleb and closed the gap on Cameron. I stayed behind him up the first climb, and passed when we got to the rocks. I felt that it was a good attempt to get away, because I couldn't hear him or see him at the turns. But while trying to pass around a turn, I went too far to the outside and my front tire found a small shrub. Straight over the bars and onto my face. Cameron passed but I caught up to him soon enough. I followed Cameron all the way until the first climb on the second lap, where he gradually got out of my sight. I'd still see him at the end of some rocks, but he wasn't close enough to get back to him. He finished with a high 1:33.40something and I finished with a 1:35.0something. My best preformance all year. I did beat him at Granogue but I felt like I raced better today. Gunnar came in about 9 minutes back. He had pink eye or something and he wasn't feeling too good. It was a really fun weekend and a great way to end the season.

A lot of people kept telling me that I would come back much stronger from my injury. When I was in the sling, I didn't really believe them. Laurel Classic was a good race but I didn't know exactly if I was stronger than before. I knew something was wrong at Teaberry because, looking at the results now, I realize that it was a very bad race. This weekend, I can now see that what everyone said was true. I was able to respond to almost every attack that Cameron tried, and although I wasn't able to, I know how to beat him. Simple race strategy that I won't tell anyone over the internet.