Not a whole not new with me aas always. Following a day off the bike onFriday and a date Friday night (see bottom for details) my parents and i cruised on out the huge and largely populated Cloudcroft for my second High Altitude Classic. i figured weather couldn't be any worse so i was looking forward to actually racing on the course when it was dry. Saturday afternoon we arrived and checkied in to our cheap hotel, and then my Dad and i went out to preride the course. Now preriding with my dad is more of just starting at the same time with him and waiting at intersectons, but regardless it was fun. i got to see the fast descent on the back side adn rode all the fast stuff at about 70% of maximum effort. i realized just how fst the back side descent was when i hit forty doing only 70 percent of max. This is on a mountain bike trail (singletrack at that). After the preride we went ou to eat at Big Daddy's Diner, which happens to be the most popular resaraunt in town with a full 5 people. After that it was early to bed for me and some last minute race strategy planning.

For the 9am start it was a little chilly but i managed to race in a ss jersey with a base layer, and shorts. Like always, i was the best looking guy in the whole pro field with my KHSnm.com gear and my new FOO wool socks. I had a good start and took some risks on the first decent and actually settled into about 10th place in the pro field. half way around the first lap i caught Albuquerque's own Hawke Morgan and Casey (sorry no last name) on a climb and went around them. that put me in a solid 8th place overall. On the fast decent Hawke passed me again near the bottmo but then proceeded to blow up his tire right in front of me. I passed him and caught Santiago Chavez on the long dirt road climb after the descent. Santiago and i rode together for the rest of the race. The second and third laps were relatively uneventful as Santiago and i just rode together in 7th and 8th place. on the third lap on the long roade climb we caught 6th place, a teammate of Damian's. I was pretty motivated now to stay with him as 6th overall for me would be an excellent finish. unfortunately 6th wasnt ready to give up just yet. he started putting the hurt to me on the last singletrack section and Santiago went with him. santiago then seemed to blow himself up and i went after 6th with Santiago on my wheel. I had about 1 mle to go when i told Santiago, "Bro I'm going to go with all i got. if i can't make it you better that guy. we are so close. i put in my last effort and blew up 100 yards before the finish. i ended up taking 7th in the Pro/expert field overall and first in my division, just 4 seconds behing 6th and 4 seconds in front of 8th. overall not a terrible race, but 4 seconds, damn.


So now, about the date. Never mind you guys don't care. and i don't want to write anymore, i got to go do a short trainer workout. i'm out.

Leaving for Tour of the Gila on Thursday morning, look for me online wearing the bright pink jersey.