Dave (and all who are interested),
The course was pretty technical, lots of tight turns. The hills weren't too bad, but the mix of turns and hills made it a bit squirrelly. There were a couple of juniors in there that were pretty skiddish, and one of them caused a pile-up after the start-whistle blew, but before we even crossed the line. That same kid caused another crash about 3/4 mile into the race. That ended his day. For everyone elses' sake, I was kinda glad he was off the scene, because he was just flat out dangerous. I think he was ok, as we were only going pretty slow into a corner. The course was only 2.7 long (8 laps), which allowed me to scope out the course well throughout the race.
Just before the start/finish line with the bell lap to go, I lost my chain, and furthermore my position. I changed to the big ring, and the derailler took the chain right over. I dropped back and pulled it back on on the fly. I fell to the back, but not off the back. By the time we crossed the line for the bell lap, I was pretty much in the back. I fought my way through the field and finally acquired good position with about a half lap to go. With 500m to go, a rider attacked for the line and I followed on his wheel. About 100m to go, I dumped him and took it by about 3 bike lengths. The chain ticked me off, so perhaps that was just the motivation I needed.
Caleb
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