Lap 1 31:04

Had to go a little harder than I really wanted to in order to avoid traffic on the climbs.

Settled into pace on the first climb. Kept HR around the mid-170's. Took some interesting lines on the downhill; I might have been risking a bit too much.

Lap 2 31:58

Kept pushing the pace, maybe a little harder than usual, but felt good. Was a little worried about third lap since I wanted the last one to be slightly faster than the second, possibly as fast as the first one. FLEW on the downhill...good technique and control.

Lap 3 32:23

Couldn't accelerate too much on this lap. I wanted to put in a faster split, but racing the first two laps at a harder-than-usual pace got to me. After the first climb, I lost focus a bit on the first downhill and had to keep reminding myself that this was a race and NOT a training ride. In the second climb I held on OK and suffered a bit on the final climb as I couldn't keep my HR/effort up; I wanted to reach the 180's but had to settle for high 160's and low 170's. Got passed by two guys from my AG in that final climb, but caught them right back on the final downhill.

Initially, I was upset that my last lap was not my best, but now I know that the first two were really demanding. It was a small price to pay for a faster overall time though I do like the feeling of passing lots of people toward the end of races.

In the end, I beat last year's time on this same course/conditions by 4 minutes and passed all of my "usual" foes!

Limited MTB-specific training. I prepared specifically for this race in only three rides, but surprisingly I felt better at high heart rates than in recent years.

I need to learn to leave it all out on the final parts, especially if they are uphills. Though I didn't really fade too much, I wish I could have gone harder.

There's still huge room for improvement, but it's good to be making progress.


One of the finest MTB races in Venezuela in its second year. Though some details were better last year, it was still a great race, MTB party.

Mayde placed 2nd in her AG, but it cost her a trip to the ER.