midwestbicycleworks:thebikecomesfirst:Race Report: Kenda Cup #1 Vail Lake, Temecula CA Where was
midwestbicycleworks: thebikecomesfirst: Race Report: Kenda Cup #1 Vail Lake, Temecula CA Where was the mud!? Oh man… I was expecting this one to be a mud fest again this year. But I totally underestimated the power of the Southern California sun to turn mud back into dust within minutes. There was no mud at all. Conditions were dry. The locals called this “tacky”, but really, that translates to “normal dry” in any other place without cactus. That meant I had the wrong setup. I brought my old hardtail to sacrifice it instead of my new bike. Since the next race is the following week-end, I knew I wouldn’t have time to rebuild the bike. Smart move isn’t it? Oh man I wish I had my new bike. I also had metal brake pads on so they would last longer. But oh boy, I had forgotten how terrible they feel. Noisy, not much bite at all, not feeling confident at all. The Shimano XTR brakes usually feel amazing. But I think you need to break in the metal pads for much longer. Anyways. I felt slow. And the clock confirmed. And I can’t even blame this on the bike (or the headwind). I just couldn’t get my heart rate up for some reason. I guess that happens sometime. I still had a blast though! That new course layout is super fun and it’s more spectator friendly. I was stoked to be racing on the Kenda Cup again with the super fast Cat-1 guys. I’m hoping to be able to stay with the group longer next time. I finished 7th in 1:37:52 See my complete lap 1 video HERE.Course Map HERE.Rad shot by PB Creative Nice job finishing 7th and on a back up bike too. The YouTube video was really fun to watch. -- source link