Castlewood

Holy shit! Castlewood was in such great shape on sunday. What an awesome race put on by the DRJ folks and the MWFTS. I'm currently typing this we a bum wrist (hopefully not broken, but if it keeps hurting then I'll probably get xrays this week).

Maggie and I both raced on sunday. I was on my new lynskey 29er currently set-up as a single speed (although it can be ridden as a geared bike at any time). The bike came together beautifully and still needs a few tweeks but so far is the nicest bike I've ever ridden...seriously log-scale magnitudes better than any other mountain bike I've ridden. I'll post some bike porn later this week or next once the custom wheels are complete...but I'm thinking that with the suspension fork it'll probably be around 21lbs, maybe less. And man, titanium rides so well. Stiffer than steel, more compliant than aluminum, and much more 'organic-flowy' than carbon. Jack at Lynskey is awesome and really hooked it up for me...super nice guy and very easy to work with.
Oh yeah, the race. Maggie rocked it again, taking 2nd in a field of around 6 or 7 beginner women. I'm so ridiculously proud of her...she's really pushing her comfort zone and having a great time while doing so. We also made the after work journey from Columbia so that she could race in the last thursday night alpineshop dirt crit. I just hung out with our daughter and watched everyone (well everyone except for one of the most agro mountain bike racers I've ever seen...who was also at the race today) have a blast.

My race was interesting. Unlike last week I finished. But similar to last week I had a flat on my rear tire. This time, I ran into the finish/starting area, changed it, and kept on going. When I flatted I was hauling-ass and riding in second place with one lap (of three total) to go. For some reason my CO2 cartilage thing would dispense the CO2 every time I tried to screw it shut...so I ended up wasting 2 cartigages and a ton of time before we finally borrrowed a floor pump from someone. Once I got it filled up I was probably in either 6th or 7th place and I still felt good, so rode my ass off but whilst doing so managed to have a pretty serious crash going down the last switch-backy down hills (Justin's or Jason's). I think I came across 3rd or 4th which I feel pretty good about. The dude that won the single speed category was pretty damn fast. I had him at the starting line, but he past me on the first climb. I realized that he was fast and started to settle onto his wheel. I think I could have held his wheel on an empty course, at least for a while, but when we encountered other racers, he got a good line and I got a bad one while trying to pass...he gapped me and I never saw him again. Oh well, it is always nice to see where I am as far as riding. On that note, later in the first lap Dave B. (who had flatted) followed me down the rocky switch-backy down hill (Justin's or Jason's) so I'm curious to know if he thought I was slow, decent, or par for the course in terms of the expert category. I think my goal for next year's mountain biking will be to ride in the expert category.