it's done

The Winter Short Track Series is over.  And what a way to finish!

Snow (real, legit, snowball making snow) hit Charlotte the evening before the race which meant the race would a cold muddy mess of a fun time!

Snowballs being caught, and sometimes eaten, by the dogs.

My brother happened to be out on the roads as the snow started coming down and he was confused as to whether other drivers were going fast because they were just going home from work or because they were freaking out from the weather?

Or maybe they needed precious supplies before they got snowed in?

Before the finale I got a little something in the mail.  On top of uploading my ride data to the garmins site, Strava, Singletracks (manually - although sometimes I get to upload gxp data to share trails and whatnot), I also upload my data to Plus3.  Garmins and Strava are my data examining sites, Singletracks was the first (when I was just using a cateye with no gps to log my rides) and I've just maintained loyalty, but Plus3 is my altruistic site.  Every activity you log (mountain biking, road riding, spinning, hitting the gym, walking the dog, hiking, canoeing, etc.) earns your charity money at a set rate per activity (could be time based or distance based).    So, I am getting paid - which is then donated - to do what I do.  It's a pretty cool deal, and pretty effortless on my part, since I'm uploading my data anyway.  Since I've joined the site I've always been linked with the IMBA charity.  So far through my efforts I have raised $175.  The site, and all it's members, has moved a total of $776,175.35 to all of it's sponsored charities.  Pretty damn sweet.  Check it out, help out some great charities, and get paid to ride like me!!

Ok, to the race!  Annie and Andrew (my brother) braved the cold temperatures to cheer me on in the final race.  Andrew got some great pictures as well!  The course was a slick muddy mess... during my pre-ride some of the berms were a chopped up mess, but by race time things had settled down and they were pretty stiff.  The real issue was the damn grass section.  Last time the weather was crappy it was a suck fest, Sunday would be no different.  As you entered the "grass" it was a mud field, at first I wondered if I had mistakenly entered a cross race.  The "line" was to the inside, straight through a number of puddles.  Once you hit the short up there was a more "established" line through some more mud... but at least the grass had been cleared away, right?  It sucked.  It sucked so bad they removed it from the course after our race, THANKS!

The field was much smaller today, just 12 riders.  Off the start I missed my pedal (numerous times) and ended up slamming my shin with it, fun.  Suffice it to say, I speed up to catch the back of the pack going into the woods.  Of course I would have liked to be up a few spots going in... but what can you do.  Before the start finish I had regained 3 spots.

Look how clean I was on lap 2

I had moved my way up to 8th

Finishing strong, and dirty

a mess

who wants to ride?

Mud was everywhere.  I ate mud on every lap.  I had mud all over my face.  It was fun, but it was slower out there due to the field.  I broke the top 10 (which had been my goal after last week's performance) with a 9th place finish, so I guess that's good.

Now it's on to the Southern Classic Series which kicks off March 3rd!!!  No rest for the racers.  I'll explore my schedule with you tomorrow.  But before that, I still have to clean my bike!