H2H Race #4 - Bulldog Rump KVSP

Pampa said:
Can you PM me your #? I lost a lot of info about a month ago when my BB died.

BTW, you can still chase me, only that now I'll have a few min of advantage 😀 SS goes out first, right?
Click to expand...

Utah & Segundo - Thanks for the quick tour of KVSP.

Segundo - I'm sure your going to kill it with your new sub-21 lb Superfly SS

See Ya'all Sunday
 
Really enjoyable course. A little of everything with just enough rocky sections to keep you honest. Got my ass kicked again but had a blast.
 
We were told results were 2 mins. longer than real time.(maybe just for the girls?) Should be true when they go up on the site.
I had a good day in spite of the heat. I really like this course. Rocky, flowy fast w/ not much climbing. Good day.
 
Race recap - Cat 2 SS Open

First race in SS for me today and I was as nervous as I was on my first Cat 3 race 🙂 Coming up to the race I didn’t have much time to get the handle of SS but on the other hand, since Kittatinny is close to work & home, I had the chance to ride 4 or 5 times there before the race. Until early this week I was shooting for top 50% but this past Tuesday UtahJoe pushed me really hard on a hot lap (I lowered my previous best lap time by 5 min!) and I saw that I could probably do better than that. However, that effort hurt me pretty bad and the rest of the week I was on recovery mode. I just did an easy lap on Thursday and no riding (or anything else) on Friday and Saturday.

My warm-up as usual, sucked, I was just going up and down on the paved road. Luckily I saw Pearl and Mandi and followed them for a bit into some ST so that got me more focused. On the lineup I saw a couple of familiar faces but I didn’t know most people. At the horn I came out quick and after some hustling I got a spot after Pearl and then I passed him (I was running one tooth less than him so I thought I had to take advantage of that on the flat sections). I was thinking about letting someone pass me and follow him on the first lap, so wouldn’t blow out early but right before turning into the fire road climb I got some good cheers from the mtbnj crew (thanks!) that made me put the pedal down decide to go for it and try to stay first.

When I got the ST I was riding very sloppy, taking lines that didn’t even take on training laps, braking all the time, skidding, etc. and a mile or so into the ST I started hearing a couple of guys after me. Then on one of the sections where you could see who’s coming behind I heard Pearl calling my name, so I pushed it and started to pull a gap. Towards the end of the first lap another guy (Stéphane) pulled up to me and caught me right at the bottom of the tough climb. He flew by me and that kind of hurt my pride 🙂 so I said no way I’m walking this and I was able to reel him back at the top of the climb:getsome:. I started riding his wheel and he seemed a bit nervous, I think he didn’t expect me to recover. On the next climb he made a mistake, I passed him and started to pull away. At the end of the lap I was feeling pretty tired but then again, another dose of mtbnj cheers (and other folks too, thank you!) and got the boost I needed to attack the S/F climb.

The second lap I rode mostly alone but since I was still riding sloppy I slowed down on the spots I had trouble (pretty much everywhere except climbs and flats 😱). Two or three times I saw Stéphane closing up on me and every time I was able to pull away. The tough hill on the second lap was a killer but I was able to make it. After that I was very careful on the last downhill and spun as fast as I could on the grass to make sure I wasn’t getting any surprises near the finish.

Overall, a great day today. A well organized race, a nice course and a lot of familiar faces.

Next up: DH40. This one should be interesting...
 
Congrats, Segundo. I saw you talking with MattyB before the race and you looked nervous as hell. Now you know you've got nothing to fear!
 
Me yelling your name backfired 😛

I tried to roll with you for the first 15-20 minutes and couldn't push the pace. Stephane had a decent gap to make up once he passed me on a rooty up hill, Im sure he burnt many matches on that alone. After that I was in no mans land.

Stephane said he didn't clear the backside climb on the second lap, you deserve it! Congrats.
 
Segundo that was one hell of way to step into SS class, I knew you had it in you. Pearl congrats on another podium finish, this is one venue I should do. Next year maybe. Jungle will prolly be my only H2H this year can't miss that one...
 
davidcarson48 said:
Congrats, Segundo. I saw you talking with MattyB before the race and you looked nervous as hell. Now you know you've got nothing to fear!
Click to expand...

Thank you David! Were you with Robin? (I'm trying to match some faces w/ usernames here 🙂 )

pearl said:
Me yelling your name backfired 😛

I tried to roll with you for the first 15-20 minutes and couldn't push the pace. Stephane had a decent gap to make up once he passed me on a rooty up hill, Im sure he burnt many matches on that alone. After that I was in no mans land.

Stephane said he didn't clear the backside climb on the second lap, you deserve it! Congrats.
Click to expand...

Thank you Pearl, and congratulations on your podium too! Looks like you are a regular there. BTW, it was funny, when I heard you yelling at me or calling my name the first reaction was: nice, a "friendly" voice and I was ready to start riding with you but then I remembered we were racing each other and you were right up my a$$, so I pushed the pace 😀

mattybfat said:
Segundo that was one hell of way to step into SS class, I knew you had it in you. Pearl congrats on another podium finish, this is one venue I should do. Next year maybe. Jungle will prolly be my only H2H this year can't miss that one...
Click to expand...

Thank you Matty! And thank you for putting together my secret weapon 😉 I cannot imagine doing Jungle Habitat in a SS but I'm planning to go so I guess I'll find out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom