Nittany Day 1

Spits of rain on the way there. Appropriate for the weather we've been having. No rain and a few peeks of sunshine for the race. Got there early enough to ride a lap before the 4's went out. Mostly dry but 4 sections of mud; 2 were very easy to ride, 2 you were better off running. Or walking (on the last lap. They really sap the strength from your legs). Slightly different course from last year but the new BMC was great. I ran a Rhino front on the warm up lap and a Fango rear (rear Rhino needs repair). Got a good warm up, and headed over. Decided to switch to a Fango in front as well since it seemed that the Rhino was losing air. Nice thing about splitting the Masters up is the fields are smaller. No monster 100+ rider fields. Got a good start but was dying by the middle of the 2nd lap. Watched riders go around but then with about 1.5 laps to go I started feeling better. Picked up a few riders and almost caught Bill Strickland; I lost any chance of catching him in the last long mud pit. 41 out of 50 and I stayed on the  same lap as the leaders. The bike is an improvement over the Empella; stiffer and quicker handleing. I PROBABLY went out too hard, but I really didn't ride much the week before and it takes a while till I feel fast again after doing my plyo training. Hoping for  abetter race at Charm. All in all I'm pretty satisfied; I'm not  great mudder but I handlesd it pretty well. Photo courteousy of my bud Joe Mallis.