Castlewood challenge was exactly that! 2-hour race with 2000 vertical feet of climbing. But, the course was in amazing condition and my supercaliber 29er was the right ride. Had a great drive in, but it hurt to leave at 6:30, i just felt a bit tired.

I took the week easy trying to ensure recovery for this event and had modest success as far as performance. I was able to score 8th place with 4 of the state's elite riders at this race. My HR was not spectacular, mostly had trouble getting out above my threshold zone.

Again I just took the start at the fastest tempo I could and let all the hot shots pass me on the first climb, but passed back a handful of those riders by the last climb of the first lap and was able to fend off all but one from coming back. So, I like that strategy, just taking my pace as fast as possible without blowing off the start, recovering sooner than the guys that blew their wad, then laying down the hammer as quickly as possible.

I almost broke through to the 4th lap, putting in a 28, 29, then 30.5 minute lap, and coming in at the end of the 3rd lap at 130;49, just 49 seconds shy of passing on to the 4th lap. In this case, I knew it was cool because i could have only passed one more rider, gaining 2 series points, but at the danger of flatting or crashing, or cramping, or having a terrible 4 hour drive home...and there were quite a few flats.