The Warda Race 2008

Sunscreen - important!

First off, congrats to Clint on another win. Secondly, major props to Seth for crashing and still finishing top ten.

Ahhh... back on home soil. Can't say I miss Waco much in comparison, what with it's broken glass, pavement start, no room to pass, micro short BG course length, and Monowad - oh I mean Monogod.

Sweet course in Warda - ups, downs, twisties, roots, rocks, and passing areas. Plenty of time for the pack to sort itself out before the singletrack. Gosh golly perfect! Of course, as usual, Warda was a very well organized race as well. Two baby calves were born during the expert race and while cool, that was more placenta than I needed to see in one day.

I finished seventh out of thirty. I'm not sure how our group got six DNFs. Freaky! I went with the Ryan Moore tried and true strategy of starting in the middle of the pack then pass pass pass. And that's pretty much how it went. I wasn't having much luck making up time in those woods, but I held my spot until I could hit the straits for more passing. With the exception of easing up for five min a couple of time for recovery, I stayed on tempo. The beginners did two laps and the 14 mile total length did a lot to help me out.

The whole gang came to ride. Except for Metcalf - he cat'ed up to finish 3rd (!) in sport. We're turning into a pretty congenial bunch and people settled in pretty quick and smooth. I had zero issues with other riders. Great folks - drama free. Nice to see the pieces finally come together for Lonn.

The Yeti ran great. I admit I came pretty close to racing my wife's Paragon 29er. Loyalty pays off I guess.

Still second in overall points. Don't expect it to last!

Ride well.