The second race of the year was in Cumberland. The course featured long grass straights, lots of grass corners and a section of single track. This year the course was very dry and the temperature was high. I knew before the start that it was going to be tough for me to keep up with the fast guys, but I felt that was up to the challenge.
In this race, I got a second-row call-up based on my place in the previous race. When we went to line up for the start Evan Russel was fiddling with his bike, he is seriously fast and racing for podiums. It turned out that he got a new bike and it didn’t have a full DI2 battery. It was dead and stuck in his easiest gear. I offered him my pit bike and he accepted the offer, I was about to get beat by my own pit bike.
The start went well and the fast beginning of the course had us lined out one behind the other. As we entered the single track for the first time it started to separate a little. I didn’t want to fade through the race by going too hard in the beginning so my strategy was to even out my laps and be strong to the end. My first 3 laps went perfectly to that strategy, then came the 4th lap.
I went into the single track section just like the previous 3 times and about 2/3 of the way through I was in a left corner when my front wheel snapped to the left and I flew over the bars. I got right back up and back on the bike, I did a quick check and the bike seemed fine, unfortunately, my left hip and lower back were not happy with the jolt. It was time to have a drink, thankfully the Buttcats had me covered.
I tried to keep the pace up by just staying smooth and not giving full-out efforts. This gave me eight and a half minute laps, not horrible but not great either. On the last lap, I realized I had made it through and would not get lapped so I took a “victory” lap at an easy pace and made it to the end in one piece.
The course was fun and minus the crash I had the rest was actually quite enjoyable. I didn’t have the best day that’s for sure. On to the next one, really hoping for some CX weather to slow the pace down a bit.
Race: COTR #2
Time: 1:07:48 Laps: 8
Avg Heart Rate: 188
Max Heart Rate: 195
Place: 24th
Book of Chad 
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