Race Report: MNMBS #2 - Mankato

Pretty happy with pre-race prep for once this year! Good warm-up and felt great at the start. Used only GU and lots of water- hot and humid day- but pretty nice!

Felt great off the start and was in the top 10 by the top of the initial climb! Riding fast and pretty well through the rest of the lap until the very last technical section (~ half mile from the end of the lap when the rider in front of me stopped just going into Quick Release...NOT the place to stop...I went off course to avoid a messy wreck and EVERYBODY went by.

Going into lap 2 I pushed a little harder than I would have otherwise up the climb and passed a bunch of people back...then on a short rough decent into a left hairpin my chain came off "expletive, expletive, expletive"...the riders I passed on the climb re-passed me...wind out of the sails for the second time in less than two miles. Have to say I was less than dscouraged at this point but rode on...eventually got over my pity and although I felt like I was cranking hard, I probably wasn't actually going fast again until the end of the lap. Railed Quick Release hard which really boosted confidence again.

I felt like I was almost out of water in the Camelback starting lap 4 which didn't seem right, but, I ditched it since I had a friend, John Reinan, standing by with emergency water bottle up the climb. Got around a few more riders in the lap and finished feeling really strong...gained two spots in the last half mile!

My fitness definitely feels good! Three minutes would have got me a podium spot and top 13 or 14...and with some smarter racing I know I could have had all of that. I'm happy with salvaging a decent finish overall and that I didn't give up- I was pretty frustrated for a bit after the chain came off- was tougher than it needed to be to get my pace back. I've put a lot of focus on fitness- which is good and definitely shows, but I've let race focus slip a little I think- making stupid mistakes that are costing me good finishes. Feeling good and looking forward to more racing though!

Thanks to Dana Shoppe for taking the awesome photos!