Monday, April 26, 2010

Farmington, the start of it all

This is the race that started it all for me, Farmington was my first bike race 5 years ago, On a 30 something pound K2 Lithium, not the bike for the job, but hell you have to start somewhere! Last year it was my first race in the Pro/Cat1/Open class; Winding trails isn’t a race I have ever had the best of luck at, but still plenty of sentimental value, and always a good time.
This year we were faced with perfect weather, mid 50’s for the day, blue skies, and tons of riders. Because of my stellar performance the previous weekend (and being a tad late to showing up to the line) I didn’t get the front row starting slot I was hoping for. The second row would have to do for today. Farmington is one of the faster races in the area, and I was ready to give put in my best effort to stick with the front runners from last week.
The whistle blew, and I felt like I got a very good start I narrowly missed a crash in the sand and entered the singletrack after the quarter mile of sandy slog to wide open double track inside the top ten and was moving comfortably. Once I got settled in the pack and started to get into a rhythm and get a feel for the pace my eyes started drying out and before I knew it my left contact lens had dried up and fallen out. (The same thing happened 3 years ago here, when am I going to start racing in sunglasses?) This setback was not something I really wanted to deal with, and even though it made the cornering pretty difficult, and I had the finesse of a bull after being surprised with a branding iron, I soldiered on.
I rode the majority of the race with Cary Fridrich, who was also sporting his swanky Darkside prototype. We stuck together for 3 laps, and had an awesome ride. The course was blazingly fast as expected and bone dry save for one totally unnecessary mud bog, seriously it was awful. But after racing Cross all fall I got the running down and was able to keep my bike which was perfectly suited for the course riding perfectly all day.
My buddy Jeff Lukach (Hit him up if you need a photographer, his pictures come out awesome, and he’s just out of college, take pity) took a couple great pictures of me running through ankle deep slop, awesome.

Photobucket

Despite the minor setbacks today I feel like I’m right on track for an awesome season on the bike, The darkside was the best tool for the job today, light 26er hardtails with semi slick tires can race with the fastest riders out there, even if I’m not quite there.
-Matt

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