December 1, 2007

USGP #5 Portland, OR

Brief report on the day. The rain and bad weather held off, although it didn't make any difference as the course was a disaster just as anticipated. I had a second row start behind Trebon who skipped his pedal ( I thought Barry does that?) and it took me a lap to get back up near the front. I was riding well in the mud and felt good, by the 4th lap I was riding With Jaime Driscol and we were catching Kabush and another rider when I went down on a corner and messed up my bike a bit. It was near the pits so I went in to get a change, but had just taken one going the other direction so my guys were down at the power wash getting ready. I lost a bit of time and a bunch of time as I straightend my levers and put my chain on, got back in around 15. I worked my way back up to Carl Decker in 10th and even dropped him, but began to feel the efforts and I started making mistakes as my power faded. I finished 16 behind Bjorn which is a little depressing after riding top 10 twice, but that's the way it goes. I had more power today than I've felt in a long time and I was going past guys pretty fast in the muddy sections that normally would have me bogged down.

It's been raining ever since the race finished and should continue overnight so maybe the peanut butter will turn into soup. I spent the evening taking a shower with half the clothing i brought and getting the mud out of everything. I was dialed enough to be pretty prepared and tonight all I should have is some light maintenance and maybe a few pieces of housing on the bikes replaced. Tomorrow is another day and I'd like to score that top 10.

Results Here.

1 comment:

Ben said...

Still a fantastic effort Tristan! keep it up.