First national of the season!! Always exciting to get the season underway. A little early but feeling ready. Our trip to Dripping Springs Texas started on Thursday morning, early. Patrick, Travis, my dad and I were carpooling to the race in Patrick's van. It was a pretty sweet set up, big skybox on top, bike rack on the back, so plenty of room in the van to keep comfy. The drive was pretty boring I guess, just flat roads. Zoned out for most of it. Did get to eat at Exit 0, at the border between New Mexico and Texas. Also got to see Juarez Mexico, looking down from the freeway. Saw some gnarly slums which make you really appreciate the USA.
The first night we stayed in Sonora Texas. Small town with a couple stores and a Best Western which we stayed at after a long day of driving. A little before dinner Patrick, Travis, and I got in a small spin on some frontage roads. Pretty sweet ride, with practically no cars and perfect temps. I did manage to flat a mountain tire full of Stan's on a paved road though. Something to check off the bucket list. For dinner we headed to a grocery store and got some leans cuisines, salads, and some chips which actually made for a pretty awesome meal.
Sonora was only a few hours from the venue so we didn't need to hurry in the morning. The course didn't open until two, so we found an awesome drainage ditch near the hotel to shred on.
We arrived at the venue right at two and got ready to shred. I had heard a lot of good things about the course and wanted to get out there. Patrick had to get a spoke replaced after he shredded the ditch at the Best Western a little to hard so Travis and I headed out. The course lived up the my expectations. It was a real mountain bike course, technical rock gardens, a couple climbs, and even some sick berms. On the second lap around I flatted. Two days in a row! I was only a couple of kilometers from the finish so I just walked back to the car because I had a spare wheel ready. After dealing with the flat I headed out a again and put in a much smoother lap. Wasn't worried about the wheel, I didn't ride till Sunday so had tomorrow to make sure it was sealed up good.
We stayed in Austin which was about 45 minutes from the venue. The hotel was really nice and I was looking forward to some good sleep after a couple days of traveling. I wasn't disappointed, waking up Saturday morning feeling refreshed. Travis raced today so he headed out at about 11 to head to the venue. After he headed out I went riding around town for a while to make sure the legs were ready to go for the next day. I could not find any bike lanes at all, which was a big surprise coming from Tucson where it is hard to find a road without one. After my ride I ate a Sprouts Sandwich which was amazing and proceeded with finishing up some school that I had put off for the last couple of days. Travis got home around five, he had a solid race and was pretty stoked. I went to bed early to avoid getting to nervous for the next day.
The day was finally here. I got up, at a solid breakfast and then headed out. I got to the venue, chilled out for a little bit and then headed out on my warm up. The warm up flew by and before I knew it, it was time to head to the line. The organizers did call up based on the Texas State Series standings so I ended up on the second row. I had a descent start though and was able to move up pretty quickly. Soon a group of about seven guys formed and stayed that way for most of the first lap. I wasn't having my best day technically. I couldn't seem to corner smoothly at all. I worked through my issues a little bit by the second lap and turned it on a bit. I passed a couple of guys on the second lap and rolled across the line 5th. It was a solid result. I felt like with the fitness I had I could have done better but nonetheless I was happy.
After the race I enjoyed some good Texas barbecue, which was mandatory before heading home. The drive home was pretty darn long. 14 hour drive all the way back to Arizona. The first few hours were pretty fun though, got to watch a couple of movies, laughed about the races, and ate some food that I definitely shouldn't have.
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