What a difference a day makes. After yesterdays ice-cold frozen tundra, the sun came out and turned most of the course in to a sloppy muddy mess. Ruts were still frozen but at least there was a coating of gritty slurry covering everything. Starting spot on the grid wasn't too bad since all of these guys are fast. I didn't move up too many spots going up the paved start hill but once we hit the muddy sloppy grass, guys starting flailing like fish on land and I moved up quick. I was able to pick guys off one at a time but any little mistake would send the 10 guys on my wheel right on by. Hit the ground hard twice but at least the ground was softer than yesterday. Coming up the paved hill expecting to see 2 laps to go, I got flagged off the course as the last rider 1 lap down in 41th place out of 98 starters. Tim Johnson and Jonathan Page were coming up right behind me. Johnson has a winning streak going as far as Nationals held in KC, he won the last time they were here and todays weather was flash back to that day. Defending champ Ryan Trebon hit the deck earlier in the race and got smashed by another rider. He on on the ground for a while and the course marshall actually re-routed the course around him till he could be moved. Chris Horner spent the night in the hospital getting his appendix removed so he was a DNS.
