7th place BABY!!!

So i fianlly had a good race. Actually i think i finally had a race on a course that suited me. This past Sunday Sara and I headed up to the top of Fort Mountain, which is only about 18 miles from Ellijay, a local race....WOO-HOO!! Until a few weeks ago i had never ridden at Ft. Mt., It's not that far from here, but there are other (more fun) trails closer to town, plus they charge to ride on the trails (on top of a charge for parking) The course was about 6 miles in length and had a profile like a V. The first half was all downhill with one slight climb, very rocky and lots of switchbacks, the second half was just as rocky, but all up hill. There was also one set of 5 switchbacks that were so steep i ran up them each time.
The race started on a paved road with a 1/2 mile climb before we headed into the woods, knowing that i would not be the fastest heading down the hill, i started off in the second row. When we hit the woods i was in about 11th or 12th out of 14. I managed to hold that sad spot throughout the down hill, I may have lost one spot, but i was trying to go fast darn it...I just don't like pain!!! Then the fun began, the climb. Not sure what it is about climbing, maybe it's the suffering, but i've always been able to do it, i may not be the fastest, but i rarely get passed going uphill. I started catching people on the climb, my heart was racing, i think it was still going fast from the excitement of the start. Even though the trail was very rocky, it was pretty wide, and you could pick your way through to pass. I was able to move myself up into 7th spot on the climb and pretty much hang there the rest of the race. There was one guy that kept passing me on the downhill, but i always managed to pull away on the climb and keep my spot.

I'm happy with the result, I think i'm getting a bit quicker on the technical stuff....we'll see. I need to start ramping up the distance to get ready for the SM100 in Sept. Have you Sent in your entry yet???