Chris Winn: Ramblings From The Road

pedal.write.pedal.write.pedal.



30 April 2007

NORBA #2- Firestone STXC / XC

Well here we are back at good old Solvang library..pretty relaxing here and has a sweet little powerpoint hookup that we are running all out crap outt to charge up for the next few days or so...man it was a big race weekend...massive to say the least..massive and friggin painful but rad at the same time..stxc was on the saturday afternoon with the Greendogg fronting up for Semi Pro class. The course used the first section of the main xc track, with a fast and bumpy fireroad section before hooking back up and over a ridgeline, coupla tricky tight corners and a dh chute and back onto the home straight. Maybe just under 2km a lap, and friggin dusty too. Long straights and tight corners...ouch. Green pulled hard for 14th place finsh and after watching scared the hell outta me of what's too come. Okay i gotta say i get pretty nervous before races, especially big ones...but when you are waiting to be called up with guys like K-Bomb, JHK, Trebon, Rad Ross, Wicks etc etc it was friggin insano to the mega. Absolutely mind blowing. So my 21st plate number meant diddly squat, getting call up pretty much second last row. Man stxc is as cool as shit, the music is pumpin, the commentator is on full peak and so was I after a coupla cans of SOBE Adrenaline..nice.

Off the line it was hell crazy..not just the pace but the dust sending me completely blind and forming a thick paste combined with the sweat/spit/snot/water from my face. I took some risks and moved up a fair chunk on that first lap but the pace was waaaaaay faaast...from then on the rest of the race was a bit of a blur, formed a chase group of three off the back of 'group hitters' and it hurt like hell for the next 30mins...coming into three laps to go we were catching an ailing Carl Decker but ran outta track. 16th at the end of the day and apart from feeling completely physically smoked i was pretty pumped with it..man you even get a free wet towel over the line courtesy of Gatorade...did I mention this place rocks!

It was pretty cool to catch up with the only other fellow Aussie on the XC circuit and NORBA pro Miller-time who smoked it for 7th place..




Wanted: Hot umbrella holding startline babe for young Aussie XC shagger...

JHK hookin' through the bottom sweeper..damn Green takes some madd photos...anyone for a slide night?


Cause.....



...and effect.

After doing a pretty solid XC lap on the friday at just under an hour i was pretty happy to hear the news they cut our laps from three down to a respectable two. My legs pulled up pretty flat in my morning roll out on Sunday morning but were completely opposite for my warm up later in the afternoon for a 2.30pm start. Green finished just off the box for 6th in Expert class and impressing the locals with his Tinker dreads, Kabush chops and soon to be Tonkin beard. Startline call up was pretty much at the back again but managed to sneak up a bit with a bit of a shuffle. Okay so this was a new one..full solo act singing of the US National anthem before the 2min countdown. Off the start it was once again crazyville, but I managed to weave my way and by after the first three kms' or so was on the back of the lead bunch containing the all the high rollers! Sweet as. So I lasted for only about another km before forming my own group and going out waaay too hard for what was going to be a long hot day with temps in the 30degs and no shade. In the top twenty and feeling good coming into the second and last 20km lap I turned the screw on the climb and split the four up taking one with me. When things are good things are good and I probably needed to pace myself a little better with the last section of the course featuring a long exposed climb and some dead singletrack. The last few kms were just a numbing blur of running on empty and it sucked getting past of the final drag coming into the 1km to go sign. Over the line it was another lovely fresh Gatorade towel and on the verge of passing out. In fact I suffered like a dog until lator that evening. In the end it 17th place which and two spots outta the Arthur Ashe. So I gotta say after the first weekend Im pretty damn satisfied and looking forward to the next round this weekend at Fontana. The legs are good and i think I'm only gonna get stronger since that was my first mtb race since Oceania's late March and was a pretty full on travel week. Thanks to those who have left comments and emails its always rad to hear from home. Peace out....cw.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet as effort dude ... when is the next one ?

Anonymous said...

Living the dream. Can't imagine how much of a buzz it would be rubbing shoulders with the likes of the K-bomb, JHK, Wicksey and alike. Uterly RAD
ScottyL

Anonymous said...

Sick Job Swchinn,
Keep Bloggin sun, everyone at home is rotting for you (as they say).
Race Fast and just easy on those burritos ok?

Coops

Anonymous said...

fantastic effort, keep up the hard work. As they say no pain no gain.
BUT don't over do it.

auntie J.