Race #2

The race up east of Payson Arizona, the "Mogollon Masher", went down this past saturday. When my wife and I got up to leave at 5:30am in Tucson it was 72deg.....It was a four and half hour drive to the race venue so we got started. It was hot all up to Phoenix and we even had to run the a/c on the road up before Payson. However, once we got to Payson it cooled considerably due to the altitude. By the time we got to the course and the race started it was 58deg. This was great for me, since I perform much better in the cool then the heat, however not great for my wife to spectate, since we had worn shorts, but luckily she somehow thought to bring a jacket.

We arrived about an hour before the start and I was able to convince a course marshall to set up the tent right next to the entrance to the venue. This worked out great and all the racers had to pass the GT tent on their way to the start. Sweet. I got to talk to some nice folks about how great my bike was and handed out some brochures to interested fellow racers.

Interesting course. Mostly flat, but some deceptive actually climbing involved. I heard about 500 feet per lap. Not terribly technical and definitely a power course. Funny thing was that since the snow up there has only recently melted, there were two stretches of mud/ standing water to ride through. So, 9 mile loops with probably 20 feet of mud each lap, and yet somehow the bike and I got completely covered in mud. Cool, it is the Dirt Coaltion afterall.

The race went pretty well, and I gauged my effort well and arrived at the finish line 7th. I actually out sprinted a guy who came in a few seconds later. It was a tough up hill sprint, but I dug deep and took it. Very satisfying indeed. I really want to get on the podium, and I think I need to work on my start. I am always back of pack in the first quarter mile and then move up from there. I can't tell how important the first minute is in a 2 plus hour race, but I would like to be faster out of the blocks.

Thanks for reading