The great BMX odyssey of 2008: Race 2

The mission continues, and last week’s results were mixed.

Awesome thing 1: Ian and I rode the Dacono BMX track early in the week, and I consistently manualed the rhythm and manualed/jumped the last straight. I felt smooth, and the stopwatch said I was fast.

Awesome thing 2: Last week I wrote about gate starts for the BMX book. Analyzing video of ABA points leader Danny Caluag snap the Dacono gate gave me some ideas. Instead of waiting for the red light and “Watch the gate,” I started moving at “Riders ready.” By the time the gate moved, I was already under power. This worked awesome in practice, and I was getting amazing starts.

Working on infographics for the BMX book …

Bike: I planned to race the Intense cruiser, but the stem cracked while I was tightening it (not the first time I over-torqued something). So I rocked the P.3 again.

Final: Dude, I had Lane 1, on the far inside. All I needed was a good start, and the race was mine. Well … I took off too early, bonked the gate and reached the first jump in last place. Pedal, turn, pump, PEDAL!!! I caught James and Chris in the second turn, gained on Chris through the rhythm, passed him high-low in the last turn then pinned the last straight. I gained on James, but I ran out of track, and he won again.

So another race, another second place. I’m stoked with the way I rode, but my start needs work.

Last week: The Great BMX ODYSSEY OF 2008: Day 1