Coming off a 5hrs race straight into a 15hr sleepless flight to LA, you could say I've been a little under the weather this week, (literally as well). I ventured out to Bonelli midweek with Ty and JB and was toasted after just 1.5hrs, so I wasn't looking forward to racing this weekend.

Though from experience I know I am better to throw myself in the deep end than take the slow steady approach. So I was keen to get straight back into racing, i.e. West Coast Series #1: Sagebrush, I turned up with only one expectation: I'm going to be suffering.

The race started with several miles of road which allowed me to take the easy approach and ride myself into the race. At the top I took the lead into the single track, both to keep my glasses clean from the mud and so I could set my own tempo. JB was rubbing my tire and I though it's going to be a long hard day. I held the lead into the downhill and opened a small gap by the bottom; from there the gap seemed to grow until I couldn't see JB. I continued to ride my own pace hoping that my jetlag tiredness wasn't going to kick in and my legs weren't going to fall off

at the 1.5hr mark. At the end I had a comfortable 2 minutes up my sleeve from JB.

Sid Taberlay