A Rainout Leads To An Invasion Of The Commonwealth of Kentucky

So the DINO Tune Up race didn't happen so I cannot entertain with a exciting race report about a race which does not count in the overall series. 

What happened? Well, rain happened. Despite a week of sunny weather, race day dawned with the threat of rain. There was lots of rain up north, but most was bypassing Town Run Trail Park. The race was at 2 pm, and the conditions seemed doable up until the noon hour when a large batch of rain moved in and dumped across the city and the course. My ride to the race was a teammate who decided he would skip this one, as did several other team members via Facebook and text messages. I held out hope that conditions might change, but at 2 pm I was still sitting on the couch, and a post from the race organizer a few minutes later confirmed that the race was cancelled. 

So no racing, and no start to the XC season. What have I been doing since then? I've been riding lots...especially in the mornings and on the weekends. I've been working on my cornering at Town Run, and rode at Brown County for a relatively easy ride (easy meaning I actually stopped to take photos and consider the lovely landscape). 

Lovely photo at the bottom of Hesitation Point. 

Another one at the top. 

Despite there being three mountain bike race series in Indiana, none of them are having any races this weekend. So, I looked south to the Kentucky Point Series, and the Duffield Derby race this Saturday in West Point, just outside of Louisville. The race takes place at the site of a Civil War fort, which for a history/Civil War nut like me, is an added bonus. 

The park seems to cater to downhill riders and some of the Youtube videos I have found are quite terrifying, especially for a XC rider who tries to leave the ground as infrequently as possible. I'm hoping the XC race route isn't like that, although there do seem to be some serious climbs.

Duffield elevation profile from last year's race. 

The race is only two laps on a 5 mile course, so it will likely be the shortest XC race I do this year. We'll see how it all shakes out.