Here's a report on the Psycho race I did on Sunday. Early season races are all about tuning/testing new gear, the "skills", and checking out the competition.
Course: Great course at Camp Harlow. Same location as last year. Gravel, some farm field, big single track sections, and a couple sand sections. Had a 4-pack barrier section, a barrier after the downhill sandpit, and a couple other single barriers. Smaller fields are great for the early season races. Sal puts on a good race.
Competition: I'm starting to notice a few Cat 2 road racers pull up to the line in these B+ races. I start to wonder "what am I doing in this cat", but then I remember that it gives me a good excuse to "suck their wheel" and not feel bad about it. We also race with the 50+ guys. Wow, some of those guys are really fast. Now I know what I want to do when I grow up.
Skills: Last year I really didn't do much mountain biking and I suffered in the handling skills in the early races. This year I've been riding with some guys from work to improve that. Felt much better in the single track than last year. The barriers felt even smoother with the brake lever switch.
Gear: My new brakes with the Euro setup worked great. It was my first ride/race with the left handed rear brake, so nothing like throwing yourself into the fire. It was great for the barriers. It took alittle getting used to in the single track section.
My key lesson of the day was "don't be lazy with tire setup". I had a flat at bunny hop practice earlier in the week and I threw in a tube into my tubless setup. Well, that came back to haunt me. In the 3rd lap I pinch flatted in the 1st single track section. Which wasn't that far after the wheel pit. So, I had a LONG run/walk. Got in a couple laps after the wheel change, but I was a lap behind everyone.
I got some good early season experience and learned a lesson on equipment. Good race even if the result wasn't the best.
DFL is always better than DNF.
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