The weather this time around was more typical of Santa Barbara, overcast in the AM, mid 80's in the afternoon; perfect for racing. Over the summer the downhills had turned into deeply rutted and sandy torture zones for a rigid bike. Even those on full squishies complained.

Only the top contenders showed up for this round with just 8 at the start in my class. Since I’m so worn down from work and haven’t trained, I had no hopes of placing well. I was hoping to be more prepared since this was a critical race being scored with 50% more points.

The day before the race I changed my brake pads. Stupid me … I forgot that these things need to break in before they do there job of slowing me down. On my pre-race warm-up lap I took a hard fall on a steep and rutted downhill where I couldn’t slow down. Over the bars I went, tumbling with my body tangle in my bike (I couldn’t get unclipped). Not only did that physically bruise me, but it took a mental toll. I was a little freaked out on the remaining technical sections. The racing hadn’t even begun yet. By the end of my warm-up, the brakes were ok. 

My strategy was to hold a good pace for 3 laps and, if I felt up to it, go hard on the 4^th. I pretty much stuck to my plan. The only exception was at the start. Everyone else sprinted which put me all the way out back. Just to stay with the pack on the first climb, I had to go at it a bit harder then I had planned.

After getting around a few riders, I was able to settle into a comfortable pace. It didn’t feel like a race, but I had my plan and I was sticking to it. On my second lap, on the very same downhill where I crashed earlier, was some dunce walking his bike down the only good line. That sent me into the deep powder and ruts, and again, over the bars. Fortunately, this time I unclipped in midair and landed on my feet 15’ down from my bike. Yes! Now my bike lay in the only good line with a stampede of racers bombing down right behind. I did all I could to avoid a pileup, yelling “rider down” (I wasn’t really down, my bike was). I managed to yank my bike off the trail just before a dozen or so riders came flying through. No disaster, good!