Boulder ST #2

Boulder Short Track Series #2 was last night. When we arrived at the race it was raining pretty hard and they had to delay the start of several races until the lightening had passed and the course had a chance to dry out. I didn't get the greatest warm up in before the start and I was feeling tired from the previous days hammer ride. Shortly into the first lap there was a very steep hill that I knew was going to cause problems at the start and I wanted to be near the front. The start was chaotic and once things sorted out I settled in 5th position. Dan had a great start and took the lead. As I came into the first hill things started to slow down and I was the last one to just barely get over the top before there was a massive pileup behind us that created a nice gap. I worked to close the gap to Dan and the others and was making some progress when a rider in front of me went down at the entrance to the "maze." I had to jump off my bike to get around him and lost some precious time to the leaders. However, I moved into 4th place and tried to focus on bridging back up. Things mostly stayed the same for the next couple of laps until Dan was finally overtaken by the two guys sucking his wheel. At some point some guy passes me, but I pass one of the two leaders who is having a mechanical so I stay in the 4th spot. I was able to close the gap to Dan on the last lap, but I don't have the legs to overtake him. Dan has a great 3rd place finish and I finish just behind him in 4th. Here's a pic of Dan suffering.