Rob Ballou

Dirt Crit #1

Last week was the first dirt crit of the season and it was fantastic! I found myself binding time, pumped waiting for this race. During the A Race I spent some time snapping photos of fast guys, but as soon as I saw the B racers beginning to swirl around, I rode back to the car to gear up. Soon after I ran into SFR.

While we waited I took one brief ride down to creek to see the B racers cross (which mostly went by swimmingly, except for one rider who bite it heading down the chute landing roughly in the grass next to the creek). I was stoked. The brief half lap had me wondering though if I had the legs for short and fast? Did I have the lungs to be pushing it the entire time?

When we lined up, there were a lot of riders. Several of the juniors I recognized and few beginners from the MWFTS races, and some GORC peeps. I lined up behind the juniors, knowing a few of them were going to be the fastest on the day. This would hopefully give me the hole to get a decent line into the chicane.

The entire first lap I kind of bid my time, hopping that there wasn't a large pack (and a fall like last time), but things went smoothly. I picked off a few riders and settled into a groove behind a fellow GORC rider. Unfortunately, I didn't take a few passing opportunities and the creek crossings were proving unwieldy (I cleaned it once when I had a straight, uncontested shot at it). Got a little use to my remount training, though. So I followed the speed along, catch people, cross creek, dismount, remount, speed along, rinse, lather...

At the end, my legs felt gooey, but I was left wondering: what would happen if I went faster here or there? Well, I get to find out this week! Love the dirt crits.

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