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Welcome back Racefans to the 96th running of the Loudon Classic. Just like the weather, I had a mixed bag of a weekend.
First thing, Peter Kates helped me make a much needed change to my forks. The overall improvement is really big, and should remove a barrier to my getting faster.
Friday I just had GTU and it was a corker. I got away well, and a 20 lap battle for second ensued between me an Alex Guilbeault. Well, for Alex Guilbeault it wasn't a battle because I never completed a pass, but I was so close to his wheel the whole race, even through some heavy traffic.
We were both sliding around a lot. Maybe the pollen or the cold rain the night before had reduced traction? Either way, I was sure I could sneak past after one of his bigger moments, but it just didn't happen. Alex ran a great race. I was mentally exhausted from riding the whole way without being able to use my visual reference points.
No racing saturday, and Sunday had the rain arrive just before the classic. I had three tire choices ready to go, and ended up on the full rains. These had been somewhat smoked in a damp/drying race already, so I wasn't feeling too special and it showed. I got some horrible starts, and generally took way too long to build confidence in my tires. After Chasing Kris Hopkins the whole way from a few seconds back, I had a weak last lap and Kip and Chris Dove snuck by me dropping me from 6th to 8th. Meh. But good showing Chris Dove!
After many delays and red flags, MWF40 finally got under way. I had to race Kip again having just lost to him in the classic. He goes well in the rain, so it wasn't going to be easy. I eased past him into T1 about halfway and was feeling my confidence coming back. I was able to gap him and lay down a 24.2 in the pouring rain. I was happy with that, but where was it during the big race??!! Ah, well, onward and upward.
Big thanks go to Kerry Smith for taking care of everything from tire swaps to food, Peter Kates for the suspension AND rider tuning. Geoffrey Bonnard,Kris Hopkins and Tom Welch for the laughs and support.