Draper ICUP

I stayed in bed until 8am and watched the Twitter updates come in for the ICUP race.  Sent off a few texts to the guys trying to figure out who was racing . A lot of rain fell the night before and it was raining in the morning.  I wasn't sure the race was a go but after a 1 hour delay, the race kicked off at 10am.

We had 12 in the single speed class and they finally got the line up right.  Pro Men, Exper Ment, SS, etc...

Ed has us doing 2.5 laps (30 miles).  I knew this one was going to hurt.  I had heard about the nasty, loose, steep switchbacks that were new to the course this year but never pre-rode them.  I had no idea what to expect and decided to leave my 32x18 gearing on. 

B. Tolbert lead it out from the start and I managed to get into 2nd position.  We quickly got a nice gap on lap one until the upper switchbacks when Rico and J. Steele caught up.  Tolbert was able to climb away from me.  I had to walk/run parts of this section.  Too much gearing I guess.  For the rest of the race, it was me and Rico trading places trying to reel in Tolbert. Rico and I stayed together until the final half lap where Rico dropped me on the CreekSide descent.  I was more cautious.  I'm tired of crashing on my bad hip.  I hit some lap traffic and wached him pedal away.  It was a good move and he was riding super strong.

Tolbert 1st, Rico 2nd, me 3rd, J. Steele 4th.

It's days like today when I really like my single speed.  A lot of puddles and a few mud sections.  The bike got pretty dirty but I didn't have to worry No shifting problems.

Now I need to get revenge and try to move up a spot or two on that box.  Still looking for a win this year.

Oh and that secret powder I was bragging about in my last post.....C4.  Good stuff.  Keeps the legs feeling fresh.  Now I just need to find a powder to get my downhill confidence back.