Jim Hewett's Blog – March 2012 Archive (2)

Cool often represents the first "real" race of the year for our team.  Usually muddy, often cold, always a lot of fun, and a cash payout for pro class.  Almost the whole team made the trip this year:  Carl, Shiloh, Mike, Paul, Mandy, and new team member Ryan all joined me for the trip in the Summit Bicycles van.  The time change forced an early start, but we made our way to Cool as the sun rose and the clouds gathered.

The course conditions were actually very good, despite the light…

Training has been moving along steadily in preparation for my first priority race grouping in April.  Today, I travelled to Roseville to race on the Granite Bay course for the first time.  It was another miserable winter day in Northern California - 75 degrees and sunny.

I arrived early to ride the course a little and familiarize myself with the terrain.  It was fast and flowy, a lot like the Ft Ord CCCX courses.  I could tell from past results that we would be doing about 32 miles in…