Winding Trails

Winding Trails
Root 66 series
Farmington CT

This is a flat, fast course with some windy sections and few ups or downs. The conditions this weekend were dry making the course seem even faster than normal. There were at least three rerouted sections from previous times I had raced here. The soil was still soft and loose. The dust was worst in these areas.

The race was only 20 miles long consisting of four laps five miles each. I normally mix my water bottles thick with acclerade (orange flavors is the best) so I don’t need to carry gels. I mixed it thinner today I am glad I did. I don’t think I would have been able to choke it down otherwise. With such a short race the intensity was high from the gun. There was a lot of drafting and bumping shoulders. It felt more like a long short track than it did a cross-country race. The intensity was high like a short track and my lungs were burning and my mouth was full of flem like they normally are during a short track. Except instead of being a 20-minute race this lasted for an hour and 13 minutes

I finished third out of 13 riders. The top five finished within a minute of each other, a very close race. It was important for me to do well; this being the last race of this series, over all awards were being handed out. I was receiving the overall first place in the series title for the pro/ semi-pro men I felt an obligation to show I wasn’t just the guy who showed up to the most races but that I had some talent too (at least a little bit). I was happy with third and I was happy with how the season went as a whole. I felt I improved this year so I can’t complain.

I feel the root 66 series is a good one. It’s well organized; they offer promptly posted results and pictures after every race. A lot of races, 14 I think, some good ones too, mount snow, coyote hill, holiday farm, channel 3 and land mine are some of my favorites. It s a good diversity of courses ranging from super fast to slow and technical. I hear people complain that their are too many fast courses. It’s true they do have a lot of fast courses; probably not places I would drive to just go for a ride but when you throw in the race aspect and even fast plain courses are fun.