Was surprised that the race was held after the deluge the night before. Singletrack was sloppy so the bike portion was cut down to 1 lap instead of 2. Run portion was dry in the the cross-country section but puddly in the singletrack.
I had my characteristic slow run start and the lead pack quickly left me on the gravel road heading in to Rusty Bucket. Picked up some speed after coming out of the tight and twisty Rusty Bucket trail. Felt strong back to the first transition. Quick transition to bike after 30 seconds or so. Practice had paid off.
On to the bike leg and feeling good. Only doing 1 lap was a disadvantage for me since my endurance is better than my speed. About a quarter mile from in to the bike leg noticed my rear wheel was loose. This on top of severely muddy trails made me dial it back some but at least the wheel never came all the way out. Another bike lap would've been miserable. Good sportsmanship on the trails.
Back to the transition for 2nd run where my rear wheel finally fell off. Quick transition to run gear and off to finish 2nd run. Felt a little heavy heading out. There was a guy who looked to be in my age group in front of me so my goal was to chase him down. He led me on Rusty Bucket then I finally overtook him in the cross-country section. (Turns out he was not in my age group but it was nice to have someone to chase late in the race.)
I had a great race and really couldn't have done much better.
Total time was 1:22
I heard this song on a run today and realized what a great bass part it has. That's Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads' playing on "Born Under Punches." Tina, in my opinion, is a consistently underrated bassist. She really has such a minimalist style. This bassline does exactly what it needs to and nothing more, simple and effective. It definitely gets bonus points for being in such a quirky time signature as well! She also uses space and air between notes to provide extra, er, punch. It's such a strange song frankly, with typical Talking Heads bizarre lyrics, seemingly random guitar licks and synth for that matter. Tina's part could've fallen through the cracks and her slap-and-pop style on the track helps the bass break through the mix a bit. This song is a great example of bass parts that just groove and are perfect in their simplicity. Enjoy and thanks for reading!