Skyline

[shiloh]

This is positively one of the most fun and challenging and race courses I've ridden. A whole lot of strong riders showed up for this race, and with an age group of 19-39 cat 1 I knew it was going to be tough goings. As usual the start line was jam packed and sure enough about 20 seconds off the line everyone hits there brakes and through the dust I see a rider rolling off the road and bike lying in the middle the fire road.  Thanks to the shouts of other riders I was able to avoid the carnage.

          Up the first climb I could see what looked like around 40 people ahead of me. O well I thought it's a long race most of these guys will crack and I'll be able to pick a bunch of them off.  Things didn't spread out as quickly as I thought they would and crowded single track kept me from making any significant attacks.  I did pass Mark weir who had gotten a flat. But he soon had it fixed and was on my ass along the decent back to the start line. I let him by, but was able to stick on his wheel for most of the second lap.

         By this time things had spread out pretty good.  My legs were feeling great and trail conditions were about the best I could ask for. A few of the more technical sections of the trail had been built up an smoothed out catching me off guard but making things flow real nice.  Only problem was that I wasn't catching or passing any other riders.  Throughout the third lap I passed many lapped riders and a few cat 1 guys.

        I finished the race in 8th place 2hours 13minutes a good time for me but with all the strong riders out it wasn't good enough for a podium.

[Carl Sanders]

8th is Still a good show for a technical course with steep rocky descents and big drops. Nice work.