MSC Salida

This past weekend I went down to Salida for the 3rd round of the Mountain Cup. The course didn't have any significant sustained climbs, but tons of smaller ones. There was a great mix of climb/descend/and just plain fun singletrack. The race started out on pavement for a little over 2 miles, slightly up hill. Lets just say that we were shooting for the hole shot into the singletrack as there wasn't any passing to speak of the next 8 miles. I was pretty well blown by the time we made it to the singletrack but managed to pull it together to start having some fun railing the course. There was one section of really technical downhill about 1/4 mile long but otherwise the course wasn't too technical (despite the major hype on their website). Came through the first lap in 12th to start lap #2. Pulled in a couple guys a little on the road but not quite enough to make contact by the singletrack. Second lap actually was much smoother than the first, and only about 30 sec slower to roll in for 12th on the day. Went to check out Absolute Bikes in town which was a great local bike shop, ate a pizza, and headed back home. Next up is Durango Iron Horse mountain bike race this weekend!