Districts

This past weekend saw some racing action up in Bakersfield, Ca... about a 3 hour haul up North, so my teammate Ted and I snagged a hotel room up there to avoid copious amounts of driving.

Saturday was the sand-bag race for the Bear jersey. I was hoping to snag the win, but ended up 3rd, after a good hard fought battle that came right down to the wire with another guy. We went head to head on the last big runup, knowing whoever was in front would win... I almost pushed him over a cliff, but hey, I was barrrrely in front of him, so I had the slot.

Sunday was a Prestige series race, and I started off allright, then a yellow blur went by me about 1 minute in, whilst I was sitting in 2nd place. The leader had just buzzed by, and shot by Ted on the downhill. Ted only lost contact with him later on in the race when he skidded out around a corner, but finished strong in 2nd. I meanwhile, continued to go gradually slower, sitting in 4th, and racing negatively- looking back at the same guy who sloooowly brought me back at Turkey Trot. Well the guy catches me on the last 1/3 of the last lap, and finally is right with me right when we get onto the long downhill finishing straight. Now I should have realized that if he JUST got up to me, he's got to be a bit gassed, and should have punched it ASAP. But thinking like a roadie, I lead out the sprint slowly, not wanting to let lead him out... so I jumped when I thought I could get a gap and hold until the line, but he came through right at the end and nipped me... DAMN. So I ended up 5th.

Fall quarter is coming to an end already, though, and I'm finishing my last homework, and looking over things for my shortened 2-day finals week before I head out to Kansas City for cross nats. Before that, though, is the last prestige race I'll be doing... Storm the Beach. Literally on the beach at Camp Pendleton. I will definitely have some pictures from this sweet venue...