Yesterday's race was difficult. The terrain itself wasn't that tough with the exception of the paved climb. That section hurt me as much as any other part of the course. The rest of the course was only slightly rolling. The difficulty came in the turns. It wasn't as turny as Carbondale by a long shot but probably 2/3 of the turns were off-camber. Combine that with a couple small mushy, muddy pieces of turf, a couple leaf-covered turns that were dicey and a few small holes and tree roots that always seemed to find their way into my path and it proved to be a challenge.

Everyone lined up by the ref's tent and I sat way at the back because I knew they would move everyone back and I was going to hold my position. Unfortunately the didn't push everyone back as far as they seemed to for the C race and I was still at the back for the start of our race. Dumb move, Jim. I ride okay but dont have the ability to work my way through a pack of riders and then bridge to those who had a nice clean start. So, it was just a question of passing who I could. Then on the 3rd lap I darn near puked going up the hill and that forced me to back off. That was followed by some stomach cramps that last 2 or 3 laps. Surprisingly the cramps went away but I couldn't put in too much effort until they went away. Ultimately, I finished 16th out of 25. Not real good.

The race was fun and I enjoyed the challenges that it presented. A nice bonus was that I emerged unscathed with the exception of a bruise on the bottom of my forearm. Not sure how that happened. Otherwise, there were no new bumps or scrapes on the legs, the knees are good and I didn't seem to kick my ankles at all but maybe the protection I was wearing did its job and I wasn't even aware that I did kick my ankles once or twice.