Fork you...

Change can be good... but not in this case.
Mistake#1
After riding with T.J. and Roger on Thursday at Wawayanda I decided to run a 35x20 to "kill it" in the singletrack. Roger was riding easier gears and seemed faster today. Riding the singletrack like a superstar was great but spinning like I had no chain on the fire roads while everyone dusted my ass was not fun and left me exhausted. Ultimately I ended up dismounting the same sections I would have run anyway. Lesson learned!

Mistake#2
Suspension forks are heavy, climb like shit, track even shittier and late in the race make me even more tired. I know I'm gonna hear some flack over this one but the 3 seconds you gain on the downhills are lost immediately on the climbs (and much more). I like to go up hill fast and the sussy fork doesn't. Not to mention my fastest lap on Sunday was ridden (unintentionally) locked out. Wanna go fast uphill? leave the squish at home. Lesson learned!

I have a riding style and when I take others advise on gearing, lines, strategy, etc. it hardly ever works. It seems like I need to relearn this every year. From riding alone Ive taught myself to ride efficient and fast. Maybe not as fast as you on a given section but an overall fast that equals a good race performance. Good race performance was no where to be found this week at Wawayanda. Sure it was hot but that's not what the only problem was. I listened to too many others. So don't be offended from now on if I don't listen, cause your wrong....For me that is.

Feeling like a overheated Chevy Nova on a hot summers day
I must admit I have a weakness. Finishing races in the blazing sun has always been hard for me. It saps the energy from my legs reducing me to a pile of no powered poop. Normally on these occasions I would do a lap, drop out and live another day. Not today. Why you ask? Because I D.N.F. too many races only to realize I would have done well if I had just stuck in there. I promised myself I wouldn't drop out of races this year just because I'm hurting, Stupid promises. I can't say I wasn't aiming recklessly into rock gardens to try and puncture my front tire but no such luck. So I finished, and I'm happy...I think.
I'm looking forward to the next few weekends to just go out and ride my bike. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the temps will stay mild. See you out there...