River City Shootout 2011

Photo taken by Heather Wolff

First MTB race is in the books. Brandon and I headed out to Swanson Park to race the River City Shootout. I did the 3 hour marathon version again and he did the Cat 1. Since the race is on a Sunday the start time for me was 12 instead of 10. So plenty of time to get ready and have everything setup before race time. I think this race I felt the most relaxed before any race. I think the last time I felt like that was the state games in 09 with Harp, Sean, and Rick. Anyway the race started quick and I ended up about mid pack going into the trees. Usually I try to hold back a little and not try to go to hard right away to save myself for the 3 hours of racing, but i was feeling good so I decided to go a little harder then usual. I was able to get around about 6-7 guys on that first lap and then for the rest of the race the only passing I did was around guys with bike troubles or lap traffic. I has a couple guys in sight for about 4-5 laps but then I was slowing down a little on lap 6 and 7 due to my legs cramping up. That was frustrating because I know I had more in me. My heart rate was fine and I wanted to go faster but my legs said NO. Oh well.

New kits this year. Photo taken by Heather Wolff

In the end I ended up 9th out of 27. My teammate Greg who also raced all day on Saturday in the TT and STXC came in 10th. Not bad for the start of the year. This race was also the first time I raced my Jet 9 and WOW did that bike do great. I love the way that bike handles and the FS feels so good on the rough section of the course. All the thanks to Bike Pedalers for setting me up with this great bike and as always I have to thank my fam for letting me do this crazy hobby. The plan was to have them at this race but Hayden was coming down with something so we decided to maybe wait for another race. Next race on the schedule is 6 hours at Bone Bender with Brandon. I've been wanting to do this race the last two years but never worked out. Well my entry fee is paid for so no turning back now. I really hope it doesn't rain. Two years ago they ran that race in the mud and I really hope that doesn't happen this year.

As for the rest of FWCT at Swanson Brandon, Sean, and John raced in cat 1 and finished strong and new teammate Steven came in 4th in cat2 open, also racing with Steven in cat 2 was Jason and Jesse. Not a bad weekend for FWCT.