Sand Baggers

Yeah, it felt a bit like sand bagging yesterday. Sam, Tom Miller, and I were the only experts in the enduro race (4.5 laps) in Elk River yesterday morning.We wanted the extra milage though and also wanted to beat the rain which was going to redevelope in the afternoon(which turned out to be a good decision). The race started at 9:00 so we were up bright and early. I hardly had a warm up, maybe 20min or so. I took the start in typical Hollywood fashion and put the pedal to the metal down the dirt road. Halfway down I looked back and I had a gap on the whole field. I knew I had to be at the front going into the singletrack so not to get behind a slow rider. It was nice getting the hole shot, which is a first for me. The first lap hurt and felt slow which is expected untill I warm up. On the second lap Sam and I droped Miller and the H'wood train was in full effect. Thats how it was the entire race; Sam and I just took turns at the front. I could tell my top-end isn't there yet, the short punchy stuff was taking its toll on the last lap. Sam and I did paper rocks, scissors to see who was going to take the win. Just kidding, he let me take it since he did so well last year.Lap times averaged out to be 35min; total time-2:38. Don't worry, even though we won, I think they purposely gave us top 3 winners(Sam, Tom, and I) a water bottle and a couple tubes, then had us pick a number and they gave the gift certificates to whoever finished in that place. personally,I think they should have given it to 4th, 5th, and 6th. We didn't care, it was just a pre-race for the season. I'll tell you what though, we were all feeling real smart when 20 min into the expert race, it started to pour rain.Doing the enduro race most likely saved us a great deal of $ in replacing the drivetrain. Brendan didn't look too happy when he came through all muddy. So as The experts were sloshing through the mud, us top three finishers took a nice dry victory lunch at Chipotle :)
Rumor has it I'll be getting a new ride this week, stay tuned.