Annadel XC - rough and fun!

No doubt that this is one of the most fun races around here - but getting up at 4.30am wasn't so much fun.

It was freezing cold on this early Saturday morning in Santa Rosa and I didn't bring any extra clothes besides of a wind vest. From the start on it went uphill, so no more worries about temperature.

I tried to pace myself and focus on having fun. Well I remember how it went 4 years ago when I did this race and started super fast... I cramped half way through and it's really painfull riding such technical and rocky trails with cramps all over your legs, so this time I was making sure to keep enough in the tank for the finish. The course is a good mix of some fast double tracks, flowy single trails and more technical rocky sections.

After 25km of the 42km course I started going a little faster and for the last 10km I went all in. I finished really strong, maybe too strong, but hey, better than overdoing it and it is good to have some energy and concentration left for that last fast, rocky descent, where some people eat it really hard.

7th place in my Cat.2 age class was ok and we enjoyed some post race free beer and paella afterwards! Looking forward to the last race of the season, the California State Championships in Socal at Big Bear Lake!