Of course that pleasantness all morphed into flashing trees and hairpins more intense than Grand Theft Auto. The course at Beacon Hill was fast, with one brutal climb with a log half way up until it rolled (was rolled? Hope nobody was under it
) out of the way. Fast swoopy hairpinned single track, then grassy highways back to the deep-grass-feels-like-riding-in-sand finish straight. My cassette looks like part of a harvester. Then 7 more times. Adam and I were close together, him passing when a guy in front of me blew the climb, then me in front when his bars rotated in the stem on an unseen bump in the trail. Brenna and Alex did three laps, (plus one after to figure out steep descents and the line through tight corners), one more than last week. I held off all but 4 guys from lapping me. (Small victories!) I had half a lap on the wheels of the leaders to re-learn that the course feels way different at leader pace- the bumps and turns come up way quicker. And I thought I was going ok. No wonder Gavin managed a two wheel drift (without crashing), crashed three times (and flatted?); it's a different game at the front of the the race.
Edit: I made this sound more epic than it was; it all depends on how close to your skill limit you ride. The familiarization lap was a snoozy tour. The first lap was the Colwood crawl after missing the holeshot. But chasing Drew was white knuckle fun. I think anyone, really, anyone, would enjoy these courses. No grief at all from the pros passing us.
Last two events coming up. Final is Margaret Jenkins Oct 20 with kids races first.