Jackson Park

I overgeared the start and came out of the gate real slow and then got stuck behind alot of riders through the sand. I was able to make up alot of ground after a couple of laps and catch the chase group. The course was more cornering skill than power so it was hard to make up time. You had to push hard out of corners and by the time speed was up, there was another corner. Not only that, there was alot of "roadie" cornering on the course and I had a hard time getting passed people. Scott McLaughlin and Ben Popper had a good gap and great starts that kept them there most of the day.

By the third lap, my chain starts coming off around my crank arm and is all tangled. I pit for the other bike. I get on the other bike and the rear pressure is too low. A tip: check your pressure on spare bike an hour before the race not the night before. The next lap, rear tire is sliding everywhere. Luckily Mike from Kenda helps Holly fix my A bike and I transition on the next lap. I might have caught maybe 5 riders but it was too hard to catch the chase group again.

On the plus side, my fitness feels really good and especially liked how much easier barriers feel this year. Besides the mechanical, the new bike is killer. Puts down power really well and is stiff for steel. When I pre rode the bike, I thought I had too much pressure in the tires. Corners on rails where I almost felt like on a 29er. When I rode the Eriksen, I could not wait to get off it. With the new bike, the geometry is really dialed in for me so it should be fun this year. The Edge fork is stiff and holds a line really well in corners with no brake chatter.

The race result sucked and not every day is a great day. Time to work out the bugs for next week.