Day started really early at 4:30AM as I had to drive down from San Jose to Monterey, Left at 5AM and got there around 6:10AM. Along the way I found some heavy rain in a couple of spots, but when I arrived in Laguna Seca sky was covered but no rain.

Got a nice parking spot close to the pro road teams parking, close to registration and restrooms. Got registration formalities done and met Foggy Googles and Pisket in the registration area.By 6:45 I was rolling and ready to go. Went for the start line and did one lap of warming up. We started at 7:44. The field was very crowded and we quickly reached the exit point from the racetrack. This year the course was slightly different from last year. So we climbed up before dving down on the Pilarcitos Cyn fire road.

The trail condition was pretty good and still dry, despite the few showers in the previous hours. The big group started to thin down on the big downhill section, but it was still too crowded when we entered the singletrack section (TR50). It looked like a Monday morning commute and we stopped a couple time because of traffic jam.There was one crash and a couple guys with mechanicals, which stopped the ride for about 50 seconds (according to my gps). We resumed riding, but the flow was ruined and we were still pretty slow. It was funny to hear some of the ’suggestions’ to the slower riders up front coming from the group (keep pedaling, man! dont coast!…).

The rest was pretty ok up to TR60, the first sandy beach. Compared to last week the sand was much more packed, thanks to the rain and the heavy use . I even passed a couple riders in that section (I actually think I caused one to lose balance and fall, sorry man).Didn’t get much traffic past that point until I got to the final big climb, when we merged with the shorter loop riders (I think Beg. Women). The end part of the trail was changed compared to last year and we ended up close to the Dual Slalom area. Pretty bumpy descend to the end and so I didn’t get to do the final sprint on the racetrack, which I enjoed last year.1:58 was my time (unofficial), about 23 mins better than last year.

Upon arrival I realized something was wrong with my rear wheel. Couple spokes were gone and the wheel was considerably wobbling (I guess i thrashed the whole thing)

Have no idea of when that happened. Still need to find a rear wheel good enough for me