Mt Snow Nat's...

As some of you may have read the MTB Nationals were this weekend up in Mt Snow VT.

After a easy pre ride on Thursday I headed out early on Friday morning for a test of my knowledge of the lines....little did I know it would be with Georgia Gould...
...(for those of you that don't know she's one of the best female MTB'ers in the World...and cool as Hell on top of that.) But with my race only being three hours away I tried to keep my HR as low as I could while sucking in all the knowledge Georgia was throwing down (she's forgot more about MTBing then I'll ever know.)

But noon was throwdown time for my race, and after seeing the "call out" I knew who my competition was...not to mention it was gonna both start and stay fast. The course started with a half mile climb up and combination of dirt/gravel and jeep trail that then sent you bombing back to the start/finish area.

Only then to head back uphill for a three mile climb to the top of the ski resort for the last technical mile long downhill to a fast 500 meter sprint to the finish of the lap.

The race started FAST and I hit the climb about mid pack, but my body just had this cold/not warmed up feeling to it. But after 10-12 minutes I felt in the groove and start passing riders both in my and earlier fields....only to be hung up behind a couple slower riders in the technical downhill.

The second lap was a blur of pushing as hard as I could and passing riders when/where I could.
But with about 100 meters to go on the last technical downhill I heard a rider coming behind me and I gave it all I had. I came into the last 90 degree turn out of the technical stuff WAY TO FAST and grabbed a handfull of rear brake knowing it was to late. By some miracle the rear of the bike snapped around (in a powerslide I never knew how to do in the first place) and I found myself pointing the right direction and gave it all I had. Needless to say the 20 plus people watching in that corner went nuts....the one thing I heard was some guy yelling "that's how you f-ing do it right there." Little did he know I thought I was gonna forever be apart of the tree he was standing next to.

Once I knew I was not dead I gave all I had left into the pedals for the last 500 meters to the finish never looking back, and never heard a sound again...still not know who was behind me.
The first thing the wifey asked once I finished was "how you do?" I told her I thought I was 5th-8th and was somewhat happy knowing I gave all I had for a lap and a half.

Turns out I was third of the field 28. Being on a podium is cool...but being on a podium at Nationals was really freaking cool. But a third is a third, and with that in mind I'm setting goals on next year and Expert Nat's at that.

But until then it's time to reset short-term goals rock the house in Cycle Cross.