This year's Spring Cup event was different from any other season opener I've ever done. First off, the terrain at the Salem Hills trail is very mellow, meandering through praries and small groves of trees, with very little change in elevation. The majority of the MNSCS races are at venues with much more technical singletrack and steeper, longer climbs. The usual suspects were present, with the exception of Hall, who was actually present but not racing. Apparently Jeff was heading off to a world cup race the next day so he was just hanging out, watching his son and giving away Salsa schwagg...very cool. Anyway, the expert race started aggressively, as it usually does, and I forced myself towards the front with the lead group. After the prologue, I settled into a pace with the leaders, behind Rinehart and Eric O. The pace was fast but tolerable, especially since there was minimal climbing. After the first lap it was clear that a lead group had formed with the typical fast guys: the O's, Brendan, Chris, Ben, Paul and Justin. I was happy to be hanging with these guys and not totally suffering. After the first couple laps, I hopped up front to set the pace and "earn my keep" with the faster riders. While I was up there I felt good; I was able to find a nice smooth pedal stroke and see the trail much better. I felt like I was exerting myself at about 80-90% of my max and , consequently, had the overwhelming urge to turn the screws as hard as I could. I supressed those feeling because I knew that even if I got away for a short while, I would be hunted down and destroyed. So I pedaled just hard enough to keep everyone behind me happy and save a little battery power for later. After that lap I came out of the singletrack into the field with Paul H flying by me. Brendan, Chris, then... oops, everyone else went around me. I fought my way in front of the younger Moore brother going into the single track on the last lap, in the 7th spot out of 8. The last lap was pretty fast. I'm not sure, but I think Chris was up front, trying to turn the screws a bit. I hung on with out too much difficulty, until the singletrack opened up into the final 1/4 mile stretch at the start finish area. I put it in the big ring and stepped on it as hard as I could. I could no longer see the top couple guys (Chris, Paul and Brendan), but was able to get around the Oftedahl brothers somehow and start gunning for Rinehart. On the last straight away I was gaining ground rapidly on Justin, but he must have sensed me coming because he exploded into an all out sprint and kept his distance in front of me, at about 10 feet, through the finish line. Fun race! I was glad to be a part of that lead group. Since I started racing seriously again, I havn't been able to crack into, what I call the 1st tier; the guys who consistently are in the top 5-10 in the MNSCS expert class. Towards the end of last year, I was finishing at the front of "tier 2" -a few top 10's, but barely. I would like to be up front more this season. I am really going to need to start doing some higher intesity training to get there. The rest of the state races have a good deal of punchy climbing, which I still feel very slow on this year. I now like training and racing again. Hopefully the motivation will continue through the rest of the season.