FSC #1 Gainesville

Woke up early and rode down with Tim and Nancy on Sunday morning. Arrived to mud, humidity and bugs. First reaction was, “ah crap!”. I was ready to go though, no matter the conditions.

I got some valuable course info from Graham and David. That along with Tim’s knowledge of the course helped get my mind right. Tim and I pre-rode the first section which was steep and slick. We found a good line on the first little up but it was still a struggle to get up. The rest seemed faster to run. So I ride that first section through the ups and rocks 3 times and get it pretty good but I know I don’t want a bunch of other dudes scratchin’ and clawin’ at me so my plan is to get to the first up first and ride it or if I’m not leading dismount and run so I don’t lose momentum.

I get to the first drop riding 3rd wheel. Pass the holeshot wonder up the little climb so I’m coming into the first greasy up in 2nd. Let momentum carry me halfway up jump off run it up passing 1st then I nailed it to get a gap. Didn’t even try to ride the next 2 greasy ups just dismounted and ran trying to keep it smooth. I could hear carnage behind me. Dudes were getting frustrated. Kept it clean through the rocks then hit the first straight away and nailed it again.

Seemed like I had a pretty good gap so just went into flow mode trying to keep it smooth. I had a few close calls in the high speed greasy corners but kept it upright. Some roots were shined up pretty good and super slick. There was one long hike-a-bike up a steep rooty hill that caught me by surprise. I was counting that one down every lap cause it hurt bad.

Conditions were tough but I was having a good time. The steep ups got more ridable every lap. The stuff at the beginning of the lap was getting full sun so was ridable when I came back around on the 2nd lap. By the 3rd lap pretty much everything was ridable but the long steep rooty up. It was nice that the ups had traction but the downside was everything else got real spongy and felt like riding on deep carpet. The tricky thing was that every lap it seemed like new roots were getting shined up and emerging from the mud. A couple times I had close calls when I let my attention wander. The course changed a little every lap. I saw Cox laying on the side of the trail at the top of the tough hike-a-bike on the last lap. Tim gave him some water. I’m sure the conditions caused a lot of meltdowns.

I was wishing for less, bigger and more spread out knobbies on the front but my tire choice was decent enough. I ran lower than normal pressure considering the traction issue and low speeds. 20 front and 23 rear. I started out with the shock floodgate on because of the climbs out of the quarry but they were so bumpy I opened the shock up to smooth it out and ended up just leaving it open cause it was helping me on the rooty ups too. It was so hot hydration was key and Kent/Nancy made sure I got my bottles. That was real nice. It can be a little stressful trying to feed yourself.

1st in class, 3rd on the day 3 minutes behind Woodall and close to McCarty. That’s a real good day for me. Though I hate bike clean up the conditions made a normally ho-hum course fun.