best singletrack course everrrrrr. skyline rocked my world this
weekend. technical, fast, and competitive.

i showed up with plenty of warm up time which was necessary, as i was
quite sore from saturdays events, where I successfully flashed a 3
pitch 500 foot 5.7 route at lovers leap in lake tahoe. climbing got
the concentration juices flowing which was good, but my legs were a
little tired. i'd never done anything active the day before a race so
i was a bit nervous about how i'd do.

matt and i lined up right next to each other at the start, and i
quickly fell into the lead pack. As usual, it was myself, my friend
Chad, and that guy Antonio in the Columbia jersey. This race had this
guy Phil (red jersey) sandbagging, he ended putting 5 minutes on the
lead sport pack. Anyhooo, i stayed with this lead group, switching
leads and pace lining for the 1st half of lap one, and at the turn
around point, just after the first stream crossing, the pack passed 3
or 5 expert/pro riders but i got caught behind them, i spent the rest
of the race chasing them around corners.

just after the second crossing on the first lap i took a whipper but
was able to hop back on the bike quickly, however, on the last climb,
i thought i heard some banter from behind me, must have been matt
choking on my dust...hahah.

felt very strong on the second lap, slammed a gu-gel mid climb on the
fire road and just kept my head down and grinded through. at many many
points during the course, i literally was yelling out, WOOAHHHH,
DAMNNN. and even hada couple of "woahhh momma's!" all of which were
enthusiastically endorsed by what ever rider was nearby.

disaspointed not to get that flashy red saddle (it'd look damn good on
my specialized) even though i had the fastest time, but alas....i got
a free bottle of wine.

2/3 sport 19-26 (1:35:20)
7/58 overall sport

did some math yesterday and if i'd done another lap, + a couple extra
minutes, i'd have finished in the bottom 1/3 of the expert/semi pro's.
i was kind of psyched about that, until i compared by time to Weir's,
which was 30 minutes faster- and was quickly put back into my place,
errr category. curiosity may kill the cat and if isais can ever
manage to ride knobby tires again, i'll give him a run for his money.

i'm taking a bunch of time off in june, roadtripping to colorado and
utah, and will be bringing the bike to such epic spots as telluride,
durango, fruita, and moab. i'm just starting to plan rides, but if
anyone out there has experience riding on particularly sweet trails -
please send them my way!

this is all of course specifically designed to train at high elevation
and de-throne weir at downieville.

skyline