Folsom Rodecross #4 A’s 45+ (10/20/21):u00a0u00a0

• Race 4 of 5 in Folsom. I arrived with a little mud from recent rains but overall firmer conditions with less dust and better traction. From the start, I took the lead of the 45+ A race and built up a solid lead of about 30 seconds by mid-race. Then disaster struck: a couple of A riders I passed decided to try to stay on my wheel and I could hear them over their limit behind me. I made a mistake in a corner, slipped on some mud and two guys ran right into my back wheel, knocked me and my bike into the ground. I got up to skewed handlebars and shifter and a bike stuck in mine. I untangled the bikes, banged the shifter body and bars into approximate position and figured Iu2019d see how they held up. By this time 2^nd place had passed me and 3^rd and 4^th place were just behind. I got on the bike, I took about a lap to feel comfortable again and soon found myself with 2 laps to go and about 15 seconds behind first place. I pushed hard and caught the front rider and passed him heading into the last lap. Up the power climb, I got a few seconds and held it to Heckleru2019s Hollow (party zone with handups and a dj) where I slid out on all the beer and plastic on the ground. Second place was right on me and stayed on me until we got to the rodeo arena where we rode for a few minutes around in circles before the finish. I got a little gap heading into the finish and I was confident I had won when I saw 2^nd place make a nice sprint and bike throw on my left, I won by probably half a wheel, whew!

Folsom Rodecross #5 A’s 45+ (10/27/21):u00a0u00a0

• For this race, I decided to push out air pressure, going lower than normal. To my dismay, they took out the power climb on each lap that Iu2019d used all series to make differences in races and they replaced it with a stair climb up the rodeo arena and I hate running! Oh well, I got a good start, went up the stairs the first lap in the lead. I had to make it through lots of traffic dressed in Halloween costumes (one guy had a giraffe costume with a head that extended probably 20 feet, no idea how he made it through all the trees without losing his giraffe head and neck ud83dude0a), built up a big lead by mid race and was cruising along. I noticed with about 3 laps to go that my rear tire was feeling squishy, by 2 laps to go the rear tire was definitely going flat (experimenting with low air pressure was backfiring). On the last lap, I milked it, leaning over the front wheel but the rear wheel was completely flat with about 1/3 lap to go so I took it easy around the corners, sliding around. Still won by about 2 minutes despite completely flat rear tire. I ended up winning the 5 race series with 4 wins (they count best of 4).

Kyle Ashton