Scratch this off my bucket list.

[bnd]

Utah State Championship MTB series race #1.
Alpine, Ut.

So the I-Cup & USCS series basically are working together this year so points & results are recognized by each sanction. These are the 2 main MTB XC sanctions in the State.
This was our 2nd race of the year & after St. George at the beginning of April I was feeling pretty confident about moving up a class. I hurt my back & my knee week after that race & ended up missing the entire month just sitting on my ass instead of training. I got back on my roadbike about 2 weeks ago to try to get back to square 1.

The course is up in Lambert Park in Alpine & it's pretty scenic. Saturday morning it was pouring rain & was a steady 39*'s. The race was postponed 90 minutes due to flooding across sections of the course. Lots of climbing & bombing some very smooth & flowy but tech downhill.
I warmed up on my trainer as usual & 10 minutes before start I got ready & went for a ride. As I turned around at the bottom of the main hill, my lock out on my fork stuck in the lock out position. Great, another mechanical! Try as I could, the fork wouldn't release so I was stuck racing on an all ridged bike as my frame is a hardtail.
I tried not to let it bother me & got ready for my wave. In total, there was like 16 of us in the Mens Open beginner class. The younger guys went a minute before the 35+ group. As we started, I took the lead up the climb & didn't look back. I ended up passing all the younger guys in the first group too. I ended up winning by almost 2 minutes. God this felt good & I never thought I would actually win a XC race after about 20 years of trying. After looking at my comp, I thought a top 5 finish would be all I could hope for as some of these guys are in killer shape.
Danita had 6 gals in her class & was running a close 2nd. As she finished out her 1st lap her chain broke & after a lengthy fix, she bagged it. She was PISSED!

Iv'e got to give some props to Laketown bikes, esp. Phil for working on my bike & after the races, we dropped off 2 very muddy bikes to work on. I know stuff happens & I might just have to make the switch over to Rock Shox if Fox doesn't get their stuff together.
The next race is next weeks I-Cup race at 5-Mile Pass. I'm moving myself up to Sport & after comparing times from this class to Sport, it looks like I'll be bringing up the rear for awhile. That's OK, it's the challenge I'm looking for & I for one hate sandbaggers. I could spend the whole season in the open class but that's not my style.

Thanks for reading.

b.