Delta Surveying Cycling Team: Putney West Hill Mtb Race June 28, 2009

This is one of my favorite courses of the series. Plenty of climbing, some nice single track and some wicked fun downhills. The recent rain made things a little slick, but there really weren't any mud holes. A couple of the climbs turned into run-ups, but that's the way it goes. Paul forgot his tube and CO2, so he started the race with my lame ass mini pump and cheapo performance tube. I told him the pump would take only slightly less time to fill the tire as it would to walk back. Needless to say, he flatted on the first lap. when I passed him he was struggling trying to get the tire off the rim, but he was gone on the next lap so I figured he got it fixed. I had made a couple of water bottle holders out of some old ski poles for us. When I came through the feed, Paul's bottle was gone, so I knew he was back in the race. Trust me there was no way he was going to DNF, if he had to carry the bike for three laps, he was going to finish. After the race he said he had to stop every half lap and pump the tire with the near-useless mini pump. With all that he managed to hang on to 15th of 23 starters. Awesome effort.
I got a pretty crappy start, but after some sketchy passes (that I probably would have complained about) just before the single track, I got up to about 5th. I was right behind George and was watching Matt and Sylvain at the front. After the next single track I had passed George and closed in on Matt. Matt went down next, which suprised me. That left just Sylvain at the front. I just couldn't get up to him and that's how the race ended. Sylvain in 1st and me in 2nd. George got 5th and Matt finished 10th. This was my first sport race last year and I think I finished 2nd from the other end. I'm really happy with the way the season's going. Makes all those cold rides in January seem worth it.
Check out some pictures taken by Scott Frison and Paul.