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Race thoughts

Good:
Nutrition - ate well on the trail and at pit stops. hammer gel was huge. shot bloks , perpetuem, nuuns
Hydration - stayed well hydrated, never really became overly thirsty

Pace - about 7.9 mph according to GPS, my fastest yet for an endurance ride. Stayed mostly in first ring, 5 or 6 in back. 3rd lap did a lot of middle ring. Climbed well. No hike a bike!

Fitness - never really became to stressed cardio wise. Plenty of leg cramps though

Focus - kept mainly focused on task at hand. mind didn't wander too much. Positive internal dialog was kept up. Not too many negative thoughts

Bike handling - mostly good, aggressive through downhills and switch backs, rode with confidence despite 3 crashes

I was so glad to make the 8pm cutoff which allowed me a 5th lap. This was a huge mental hurdle for me since I missed the cutoff at the 4hr Raccoon Mtn. race last October.


Bad:
Really hurt my chances to place higher with my brain-dead LeMans start. I was last to leave! I just walked and was at the back of the pack. This simply cannot happen again. I need to be more aggressive with starts.

3 crashes! Loss of focus while trying to eat hit my bars between two trees.

Maybe a little too courteous on the trail letting people pass.

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