Mason Lake # 2 and the bike expo

Fast and aggressive are the best words to describe Mason Lake #2. Mark, Troy, Charlie and I made the long drive (Mark the morning of) to race last weekend. The master c/d group was bigger (69riders), faster, and a lot more aggressive than last week. Knowing it would probably end in a sprint I decided to attack on the first lap and do a short interval off the front. I got some space, but no one came with me. When the group caught me I went down the group on the inside and spent the next lap boxed in trying to recover. By the end of lap 2 (a very fast lap) My race was over. At that point riders started getting very aggressive trying to get position at the front. Some people were more than aggressive, they were doing stupid things. At that point I was too tired to fight for position and road the race out as back of the pack fodder. I still finished with the group when a lot didn't, so I'm happy with how things went. Charlie for the second week in a row was our highest placed Chinook Rider. A mountain biker at heart it was hard for him to admit how much fun he is having road racing. He's going to have his best Sea Otter ever due to racing Mason Lake. Mark also spent a bit of time off the front early in the race, and in the end felt a lot like I did. Mark had the quote of the day. Half way through the final lap we were riding side by side, Troy had flatted out, and Charlie was a couple riders in front of us. "It looks like Chinook is in survival mode today". I couldn't describe it any better from my perspective.

For the second week in a row we all came in ahead of Troy. Because for the second week in a row Troy flatted. I know a good bike shop Troy who will look at that wheel and figure out what's going on. I would tease Troy about it more, but I want him to keep racing and he's our best hope on the hilly courses. We all had a huge amount of fun and once again it was great to see some teammates in the group. Next up is Frozen Flatlands in Spokane April 5th and 6th. Troy and I will be going for sure, if you're interested let me know.

Bike Expo

A couple bike expo highlights, the Renovo bikes above are made of various woods. Very pretty, I'll let you test them out on a fast descent. There was a huge collection of old track bikes, see the Bianchi above. Check out the gearing on the bike in the upper left. I thing he said it was a 61 tooth chain ring. I have a hard enough time pushing my 53-12. The true highlight at the bike expo was parking enforcement across the street from the expo. 40 to 50 avid cyclists parked across the street on top of the bike lane (classic). They were all getting a ticket.