The top-step feeling is really incredible, especially when you work your ass off for it. Raced singlespeed open class at the Triple Crown Series race #2 at Bonelli Park. We started with the Pro/Expert classes and I hit the throttle off the line. The course starts off with a long fireroad climb, followed by a pretty easy (but very fast) double track descent then crosses over into singletrack climbs and downhills for the remainder of the course. I was geared at 34/20 on my s-works 29er which is not an easy gear to push over. I picked off geared riders in the Pro/Expert classes on the climbs, and on the second lap ran into a lot of traffic to work through. I kept telling myself to just keep the pace high and recover on the rollers/downhills as much as I can but not blow up. As I hit the singletrack on the last lap, I was seeing stars but I knew after looking back and not seeing anyone, I had it. All those miles and hours in the saddle were going to pay off today. I crested the final singletrack climb where my wife and two of my friends were cheering me on, and just let ‘er rip down to the finish line. Came in with a final time of 1:12-ish and 1st place with a sizable gap on the rest of my class. I was pretty beside myself.