Shoot-Out at Angler's Ridge - Danville, VA - 3rd place

boone bike (and appstate's thatcher's hurt) dominated the xc shootout at angler's ridge today in danville, va. beth, megan and andy (collectively known as the winner's carpool) won their events: women's pro, women's sport 30+?, singlespeed (respectively). in the men's sport category thatcher finished 2nd. joseph finished way behind thatcher in 3rd place. kim marland finished 2nd in women's sport 30+ and eric was killing it until he had some unfortunate mechanicals and a torn sidewall. the marland little guys did a great job as usual though i did not hear their placing.

thatcher and i lined up with a few other guys for our race and i managed to clip in and get off the line really well and was first around the sharp left-hand corner and first into the woods. the beginning of the 'short loop' was not very fun. it was classic city trail. cram as much mileage into a few acres type riding. the course began to flow a bit more and i could not hold my pace so some greensboro sandbagger eric jackson and thatcher both came around me and i did not see them again until the finish line. i completed the short loop and was beginning to feel better as i started my second lap. i was passed by a few 30+ sport men but each time they got near i tried to pick up the pace a bit and ride with them until i'd fade. i finally caught another sport 19-29 racer and was in 3rd place at that point. i kept the pace high and never saw that guy again. whew! i continued on the long loop and had to bunny hop a black snake. crazy! the rest of the long loop was fun and i stood on as many climbs as i could. my legs were threatening to cramp but i managed and could hear the band playing at the finish line so i hammered and switchbacked and voila! pavement. stand up, sprint, look back, cross the line. andy tells me thatcher got 3rd. i'm 4th. no. andy is wrong. i'm 3rd. podium. sweet. i tell the guy that won our category i did a 24 hour solo race a week ago. he shakes in his boots... podium pic:



in other news drew scharns continued his return to xc racing with a 3rd place finish in the men's expert 19-29 category at the bump n' grind KENDA CUP event in alabama. semi-local ryan fawley was riding a great race drafting off scharns until a a flat and an ejected seatbag ended his run.

high country racers essentially destroyed the competition at mountain bike races across the southeast. i'm sure dean lyons beat up on a men's 40+ criterium somewhere as well. congrats to all.