City: Philadelphia

State/Province: PA

Country: USA

Age: 33

Place: 1st

Category: Expert

CLASS +/or Age group: SR II

Team: Guys Bikes

XC Race Bike: Cannondale hard-tail

Tires: Mythos XC Homemade tubeless

Conditions: uh, muddy

Email: weaver@lrsm.upenn.edu

How was your fitness level going into this race?

Looking pretty good. Also I was coming off a rest week.

Were you happy with your position going into the singletrack?

Yes, with Mike Yozell and Nick Johnson just in front of me. Having anyone in front though was a bit of a muddy situation.

Were you strong from start to finish?

I kinda had a lull in the middle lap after going clear on the first lap.

When did you put the hammer down?

Early Rob hacker had attacked, I had followed then Rob crashed. I pushed it from there on through the hilly sections. I found keeping my speed in the flat mud trenches was a lot harder than it seemed it should have been, and Kevin from Tailwind caught me at the base of the first steep dirt-road climb on the second lap. I picked it up after that though and put the screws to myself on the flat on the third lap.

Did you have any unusual problems?

Occasionally on the steeper parts I'd hear my chain/rear dlr making funny noises, conjuring up images of the dlr being ripped off in the spokes. Also I seemed to get some middle ring suck just when I wanted to be torquing the bike over something. I'd jump right off. But I'm sure I had fewer problems than most. I put on a load of pfte lube just before the start.

Were you happy with the way the race was run?

I had some silly idea that it would be a single loop of Bluemarsh, but of course that would have been a road-closing and volunteer nightmare. This was a really fun loop, even with the mud. Next year the other direction, and down roadkill hill??

Did you have any interesting experiences during your race (exchanges with competitors/spectators)?

When Kevin Causak caught me on lap 2 he thought I was a SRI and asked if I'd seen any SRII's go by. I said He was the first, and that I'd had the lead to myself until a moment ago!

Anything you would like to add?

Thanks again to Bart and Cannondale for a super rig for a super series.