Wednesday night racing at it’s finest.  It was a great mid week race for us at the one and only Palmer Park. Conditions were ideal with cloud cover moving in right on target as we were gathering up the ranks and rolling to the start line. This week we had the pleasant surprise of the whole field taking off together at once. This is very cool and how we should always do it. As we took off in a stampeded up the start hill we all had the extra adrenalin rush of being around 40 charging riders instead of broken into our categories of 10 – 15 riders a pop. I am a big fan of the mass start.

Settling into the lap I got into trail first and sprinted into the first climb. The initial climb on our Palmer race loop is a punchy weaving climb that rewards a rider that will carry speed over rocky lines instead of weaving around and finding smoother paths. I have raced it enough now I feel I have the rhythm of the section pretty dialed. Graham Ruhmann was chasing well behind me and I was pleased to see the young rider putting in such a great effort. Graham and Ryan Beecher have been lining up with the Pros for the last two years and taking their licks. They both have been getting faster and stronger and have earned every inch of  it. They are doing it right and learning to be racers, they will be the guys winning if they keep up with the attitude and hard work they race and train with now.

I cleaned the rock uphill notch and had a gap and felt good so I just drove on before JJ could get around people and give me chase. I had one of those nights that everything is clicking and I am having a ton of fun. When MTB racing feels like this there just simply is not anything better. Lots of times it turns into suffer fests where you can’t figure out why you possibly torture yourself like this in your free time. Being on the front of a race, having fun and feeling great, makes all the work and hard races you suffer though well worth the effort.

My good friend Lydia West was once again on course and calling to me from the bushes. I didn’t even see here tell she gave me a stoic “Pedal Damnit” from the side of the course and jumped me into high gear. Having your friends out cheering you on is great fun. Lydia recently did her first MTB race and has been a major inspiration to me seeing her challenge herself in a hard event and coming out on top. As I always preach, we are all racing for some podium, and it manifests itself different for us all, but trying hard until we reach it is the only part that matters.

The last lap I was slowing a bit but still feeling fairly strong. I had a solid lead and just needed to not crash. I was sprinting up the climbs and minding my P’s and Q’s coming down. Getting the second Win of the series felt great. But the take away for me on the night was how much fun it is when you feel good. Sometimes you need to back it off to get into that zone. Lots of times I blow through my limit and just suffer the whole time, I need to learn better how to regulate my efforts and let the race come to me instead of attacking it with a hatchet like I usually do.

Off to race in the sky high mountains of Leadville this weekend. Silver Rush 50 is tomorrow and then I fly out to Alaska for Single Speed worlds championships. It sounds fancy but it really is just a big party. I am psyched and will bring back some great stories.