Race Course – Hareball.
Result – 4th place.
Pace – 0.6 seconds off 3rd.
Back in 2008 we raced this course and I was on for a burner of a run. I was fit, aggressive, and having fun. I flatted in the rock garden and still ended up 11th. last year, in 2009, we ran it again but in miserable conditions (rain, fog, mud). This year the course was a little greasy Saturday morning but as practice wore on through out the day, it dried out quite well. There was, however, a spring muddying up the track just before the main rock garden. There is a baller line to gap into the section, but you have to land on a knife edge and with greased up tires, it was iffy. Last year it was good to go. Not so this year. One run down I wasn’t confident at all, so I tried to roll into the section and I hung up and flipped over the bars. I hit hard and rung my bell quiet good. I had been going 50/50 into the gap and it was kinda working. But not being able to land where I needed to, I was getting forced to the left and I was scraping my left foot against some rocks and I figured it wouldn’t work for much longer. So I altered my line to the safe line. I was fast, just not cool. The rest of the track was good. As usual, Snowshoe is about strategy, strength, skill, and endurance. I have ok base strength but not a whole lot extra. I think my skill is up there to consistently be in the top 5. My endurance is again ok, but nothing extra to put me on the top spot. I think my strategy has come on lately and its what have been keeping me up in the results. Now if I could put it all together one of these days…
