Just a quick update from nationals. Daren Tanner and I arrived yesterday, in Bend Ore, after a fun 10 hr drive. We left tue. afternoon and drove to Burns, Ore. It was -12 degrees when we got into town, and our motel was a dive. It was 46 degrees in our motel room when we first arrived. We got to Bend, thursday, in time to set up, and ride the course for about on hour. It was like no other course I have ridden. It is twisty and frozen with about 4-6 inches of snow. It has alot of run ups and crazy downs, with a big stairway climb. After my first lap and thought I can't ride this stuff, but as we road more laps I got more comfortable, but my expectations had gone way down.
Tanner raced first this morning in 4 degrees and frozen course. He was in the under 30 B race. He did great and kept working his way up and ended in 6th place. This was his warm up race for his age group race on Sat. He was strong today.
I next raced my age group championship race. I was nervous and didn't know quite what to expect. I did know I needed to get a good start to have any chance. I was on the second row and didn't get away as well as I would have liked but was in the top 10. I thought we were ice skating for alot of the lap. It took me a couple of laps to feel better about things and start to work my way up. I went as hard as I could, but after awhile it is hard to tell where you stood. On the last lap I pushed hard and caught and after a hard fought section passed a guy. He wasn't to happy, but I was. I all most caught another guy as we finished, but I didn't know for what place. I thought 10th or so, but as I checked the results I finished 5th! My goal was to get on the podium, so I was very happy to make it. I was a very hard, nerve racking race.
Daren raced after my group and was in the 30 plus B group. It had 160 riders and Daren started about 40th. It was a mess! The start was crazy with everyone trying to get to the first corner. Daren got through OK but with so many riders it like just stopped as people tried to get around that corner. Things stretched out over time and the course was full. Daren rode a great race and battled hard for a 10th place finish, amazing.
I am done now and can relax, Daren and Tanner have their big races still ahead so I'll keep you update. Pictures will have to wait til we get back to down load. Check out Cyclingnews.com for results and pictures. It will give you a great idea what conditions were like. Ride safe. Doug
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