PORT ANGELES, WA
SUNDAY: Lars and I held it down on the Local front for Transition, taking both pro men's and women's victories at NW Cup #3! These races are pretty fun, really good practice, lots of shuttles, probably the best announcing ever, and a sweet crew to ride with. It's important to support grassroots racing whenever possible.
Race day saw a 6am wake up call, breakfast, coffee, warm up, and at practice by 8am. Only good thing about being up that early was the nice flat light from the morning fog. Trails were as perfect as I have ever seen em. Qualifying and finals in the same day, but it felt like an eternity between the two. In Quali I was pretty confident that I had a top 3 sewn up, based on participant numbers:) Race run- the plan was to be smoother, ie faster, but I scored the exact same time as my qualifier, rode a ton better though. baffling. Best thing I took away was knowing my fitness is improving. Adapting from 30sec-1min efforts to 3-5min flat out effort has proven to be a challenge. Just happy to have kicked the excessive coughing stage after each race, who hoo.... Proud of my teammate Lars too, who went undefeated for two runs. Transitionbikes.com, word.
Here are some photos documenting the weekend's excitement... facebook.com/album <<<<RESULTS >>>>>
Pro Women 1. Jill Kintner , Seattle, Wa- 3:18.61 2.Miranda Miller, Garabaldi Highland, BC, 3:26.88 3. Stamm, Cassandra, Carnation, WA- 3:58.89
SATURDAY: Could not ask for a nicer day. Sun was out, 70 degrees, blue skies, ocean view, snow capped mtns, primo moist dirt. PA was going off :) super small turnout for round 3 compared to the mega pro grt last round, but that means more riding. Glad I convinced Miranda Miller to cruise down from Canada, cause we are the only two, maybe one more, on the list for pro women. Think there were 19 pro men. All good, plenty of cat 1,2, and 3 to make up the numbers.
So funny how everyone was complaining about 70 degrees being so hot, nw blood melts in the sun. Shuttle ride up in the back of the u-haul was pretty much like a stinky sweat bath, I nearly spewed several times, motion sickness and heat don't mix well.
Tight crew of local support though. One of the owners of Transition, Kevin, came out to race, actually 4 of the 7 Tr employees are here supporting the race series, so it's pretty fun, super low key. Feels a lot like an epic shuttle day. I even shuttled runs to the cross country dh sections, all down, no up, schweet.
Racing tomorrow...... Stay tuned