9 am race start

Haven't raced at 9 am in a while, at the speed I'm getting things done these days, I'd have to get up at 4am to be ready by 9. I managed to get 2 cups of coffee and a little cereal into me before the race started. I would have been able to do a 20 min. warm up if it weren't for the line in front of the 2 porter potties, unfortunately only 1 had toilet paper.

Anyway, still a little sleepy at the start line, the race got under way and I was able to stay on Jasons wheel for about 15 min. Somehow I lost my focus and the long gravel climb seemed to take forever. On top of the climb I was passed by Bryson Perry, by the bottom I was in fourth behind Fox. I didn't preride the course and just couldn't find any rhythm on the single track downhill. I started to feel better after the 1st lap and bridged back up to Fox who seemed to be hurting at that point. I passed him and had a much better time on the downhill, started to feel good on lap 3 and was able to get within 15 sec. of Bryson. I could see him putting in a big effort, because he noticed I wasn't far off. In the end he held on to 2nd and I came in 3rd. It was a fun course, I'm happy with lap 2 and 3, maybe with a little more warm up my first lap will be better in the future.