Maplelag UCI Spring Opener

Jay put on yet another great weekend of racing. Both days were superb for all the classes. Pros, semi-pros, and experts were separate for this race since it was a UCI sanctioned race. Pros raced on Sat. so it was fun to be a spectator for that one. Sunday the semi-pros, and experts were separate by 2 min off the start- About 9 semi-pros and about 17 experts. Sam wasn't excepted for a semi-pro upgrade last year so he was with me in the expert field. That meant a more relaxed start for us. Off the start I sat in 2nd with Sam right behind me. I sat there until we hit the longer sections of single track and Sam took the lead with me in second. Sam really put the hammer down through the punchy single track and I was trying to hang on for dear life. Sam slowly pulled away from me but I passed him back when he burped his tire and had to put some more co2 in.That first lap felt really slow and I wasn't feeling strong. Going into the 2nd lap I started to catch some of the semi-pro field which gave me some encouragement. Chris Peresio, and Justin Rienhart were the first casualties. Sam eventually came back up to me and then he quickly left again. In the 3rd and last lap I also caught Tom Miller and Scott Kylander-Johnson. It was lonely out there with no one around but Paul following me around with he helmet cam once in awhile. I rolled in 2nd place 2.5 min behind Sam. Not bad for not feeling my strongest. Sam's lap times were the same as the 2nd and 3rd place semi-pros and that's including 2 crashes and a stop to inflate. Not to mention the time he sat on my tail until I let him past. My lap times would have been good enough for 5th place. It was nice to finally be back on the podium with some cash to take home. Thanks to Sarah Kylander-Johnson, for the hand ups, and Jake Richards my sport class teammate eventually getting one to me(I felt bad for him on that one). Jake took 3rd overall in his first sport class race, not bad for a 13 year old.Thanks to the Richards family and all their help for putting on an exciting weekend.

Paul Hanson will be posting some video too.


Photos by skinnyski.com

Yes, the hills are that steep