SERC #4 / GSC #3 – Ft. Yargo on 4/25/10

Today’s xc mountain bike race was at Ft. Yargo in Winder, GA. This race usually draws a big crowd and the yellow wave seemed like a good size this year as well. It’s a fast and fun course that I enjoy riding every year. I think the bad weather we had on Saturday, along with Cohutta and the Twilight Crit in Athens cut the size of the field a little but it was still a good turnout. I was the sole FM person at the race today......bunch of slackers!

This was my first xc race of the season so I really didn’t know what to expect. Last year was my first year in sport and I was at the back of the pack pretty much the whole year. Yargo’s start was on a wide line but it quickly funneled to a tight right hand turn so I choose to get in the second row behind some guys I though may start quick. I guessed right and the two guys I was behind took off getting the hole shot and I took fourth.

I wasn’t really paying attention to everything around me for the first mile or two, I was just riding the line with the first couple places. I turned around at one point and realized we had gapped the field pretty big, it was honestly weird being at the front. I was surprised because in my head I was thinking the pace was kind of slow for a start. Slowly thru the first lap I lost sight of the first 3 guys though.

At the end of the first lap I had one guy catch me but he had to stop and add air to his tire. Not sure how long he was stopped for but I put in an extra effort to get out of his sight so he wouldn't be motivated to catch me. I was able to hang onto fourth place by about a minute for my first sport class podium. In all fairness my class was kind of light today compared to normal but I’ll take a podium finish any way I can get it :) Hope to make it back on the podium this year!