Mountain States Cup #1

This past weekend was the Mountain States cup #1 in Salida. I've never done any "series" races outside of collegiate in Colorado, so I didn't really know what to expect with field size, competition, course terrain, etc. This was also my first pro race. Clint and myself decided only to race the XC on Sunday, so we headed down with a couple of friends on Saturday morning so we could get a pre ride lap in. The Pro/Cat 1 course was a little different than what I'm used to. It started with a 30 second fire road climb, then into about a ten minute ROAD climb straight into single track. The single track was pretty long, and was followed by another 10 minute dirt climb that was very steep and loose. After that we descended on some SUPER gnarly drops, that I would run during the race. I was really contemplating what tires to run for this race, because it had some pretty jagged rocks and I was reluctant to run my Maxxis Ikons, because the possibility of a flat. I ended up going with the Ikons, and they worked fantastic! Really happy with the way they corner and roll.

The gun for my race went off at 11 am Sunday morning. The pro field was about 35 guys. It started out pretty mellow, until about the last 2 minutes of the road climb before the singletrack. I held my position best I could into the single track, and was in about the top 15. Once the really steep fire road climb came, I was getting passed. I like to think it was the higher elevation, because I'm usually alright at climbing, but I just couldn't hang on with the 2-3 guys behind me. After that I just tried to get my head together so I wouldn't kill myself on the descent. Come lap 2 I wanted to make sure I caught a drafting partner for the road climb. I pace lined with BMC development rider Jack Hinkens who dropped me a little bit right before the single track. At this point the race as pretty strung out and I just wanted to make sure I held my position. As I was trying to catch Jack in front of me, I heard his tire go pssssssssss. He didn't have any way to re inflate it, so I stopped quick to give him my Genuine Innovations Big Air (karma). After that I cruised into the finish, feeling like I was bringing up the back of the race. I ended up 19th of the 35 pros, 13 minutes off the winner Mitch Hoke. I'm fairly pleased with that result, but I think I can do better. Right now it's just lots of tune up races before the CO springs PRO XCT, Nationals, and the Missoula PRO XCT.

The kits are supposedly coming in real soon, so I'll have to post some pictures of those once they arrive.  Couldn't locate any pictures of me at the MSC #1, so I'll leave with a New Belgium Short Track photo.

Clint took second in the Cat 2 19-29 race!