It's halfway through both mountain and track racing season, and things continue to work out as well as I could expect for trying to race two full seasons at the same time! All the details are here but the short version is I'm in 5th place out of 41 people in the XC-3/19-29 category in the Georgia Championship Series, and I continue to slowly move up through the rankings in the Cs at the track each time I race. Maybe I'll be 3rd in GSC by the end of the season and in the top 5 in the Cs?
As an accidental season mid-point, last night I went to a great event put on by Ergon at Sweetwater. I'd planned to enjoy a free beer or two and watch Seth run Goldsprints but Namrita (who organized the event) basically told me I had to participate, so I did, and it was a blast! Goldsprints are 200m time trials on fixed gear bikes on rollers, with software on a laptop figuring out who is quicker. I won my first 2 rounds and got eliminated in the semifinals by the guy that ended up winning the finals in his next round, which was not bad against a bunch of really fast people like Eddie O (won solo FM.24.08), Travis Turner (won the pro category at The Snake this year), and plenty of others. I'm not sure if my place was official 3rd or 4th, but it got me a $20 REI giftcard, a pair of Ergon GR2 Grips, and some very sore leg muscles that have been noticeable all day today! Here's a video of Eddie and Marc Hirsch in round-2:
This was my first time doing goldsprints, and I think it's something I might need to do again, and perhaps next time I'll wear something other than sandals. The new grips will be going on my new mountain bike when it shows up, and I'll report back how well they work with the rest of things.
Chris Kelly
