Snowshoe Race #4 (West Virginia)

This has been a great season of racing - with results better than I'd even hoped. I did have one major screw-up at the end of the season, however, when I sold my '09 frame before my new '10 came in - which has still yet to happen. For this race (and next week's final round at Diablo) I was on my friend's Turner. A great bike, just not a familiar setup.



During a practice run, I broke the chainguard on the Turner. This didn't seem to be much of a problem until my race run, when the chain came off and wrapped around my right pedal. Luckily, I had the pedals horizontal when it happened [about halfway down the trail], so I could at least coast over the rest of the course. I even hit the large rock drop, although a couple pedal strokes would have been nice before pitching over the face.



In the lower section of the course, there were a few muddy spots that slowed my momentum, followed by a long straight into the finish line - man, it sure would have been a lot faster with the ability to pedal. I ended up coming in 6th place, which is fine with me given the handicap. My position for the overall series held stable at 3rd, which was a great feeling at the end of my first season. One more race to go and then a long and productive winter of training ahead.