Weeping Willow 2010

[taudep]

Ouch.

[pierso]

Double ouch.

My "race" today went like this:

Solid top 5 holeshot in the novice race. Right turn off fire road into singletrack up a hill.

Faceplant. So much for that holeshot. Racers whizzing by.

"BACK ON YOUR HORSE" - David Deitch

Get back on my horse. My poor, broken, horse.

Ride 6 or so more blurry eyed miles including 2 dropped chains before my chain finally explodes into several pieces all over the trail.

3 Mile walk to my car.

[taudep]

Ok, my real race report.

1) Can't believe how many people were at this race. It seems like mountain biking is really getting popular again. Just from MRC alone, we had 8 participants.

2) In my limited racing career, this was the best course I've ever ridden. A bird told me that some of the Elites thought it was the best course they've ever ridden in their long career. There was very little fireroad, just enough to grab some Cliff Blocks and Gu, and if you had the engine to pass some people. The rest was twisty, with some rocks and roots, sweeping turns, quick swoops and all around perfect mountain biking terrain.

I lined up in the Men's Vet 1 with Lowry and Rob. Lowry had a blazing fast start on his singlespeed and was probably sitting 5th wheel for the fist 10 minutes or so. I was probably around 8th wheel until I crashed. And 10 people promptly went around me. Then I crashed again and another group passed me. And then I crashed yet again. But it was early in the first lap and once the race spread out and I started going my own comfortable pace, I started riding better.

Lowry and I exchanged wheels back and forth and since we regularly ride together, it was nice to have a steady wheel to follow or lead. then at the end of the first lap he mentioned he needed to stop and fill his water bottle. I decided to play mental warfare games and said, "yeah, water sounds like a god idea." So when he stopped, I gunned it through the pits. My big bold move didn't hold long, though, because he got his water and came back up to my wheel and we road a really solid second lap. I started getting the bike under me, I cleared all the sections that caused me problems on my first lap. We picked off several riding who were standing on the side of the trail fixing tires, stretching, or generally regretting that they sprinted so hard for the first lap.

Then I burped some air from my tire and stopped carving the corners so hard as I didn't want the tire to roll off. Then Lowry started his mental warfare telling me I had a flat tire. He really wanted me to stop and fix it. But I didn't. I just rolled on and actually still had 20 psi left in the tire at the end of the race.

I put a bold move on ML at the end of the race figuring that 1) I can't let a singlespeeder beat me and 2) I gave the guy an Endurolite at the end of the first lap, he could at least have the courtesy of letting me beat him. I have no idea how I finished in the pack, but I was glad I finished. It was a hard 2:20 on the bike, with the first 45 or so at total CX pace. I'm hurting right now. Amanda just asked me to carry a 50 pound bag of top soil up to four flights to the deck, and so I've opted to write a race report in the mean time.

Sounds like some of the novices killed it in their races. And I wanna throw a special shout-out to Paul D. who made his return to mountain biking on his sweet 29r Epic in fine style. I tried holding his wheel for awhile, but quickly realized what a self-defeating endeavorer that would be.

The EFTA races are really good. They had watermelon for us at the finish. They have real time results broadcast on a gigantic television screen. Well run event, excellent terrain, and I hope that I'm still mountain biking in the future because I'd definitely do the Weeping Willow again.

Rob posted some really nice photos over on Double Hop

OK, time to get that soil.

[ddeitch]

Raced novice today.

1. Got near the front early and stayed there.
2. Made somebody puke because they were trying so hard to get away from me.
3. Did the Forrest Gump touchdown through the finish trying to catch an NEBC rider.

Unfortunately not scored due to my flying finish, but came in ahead of #233. I noted the issue to the judges, who assured me that it would get worked out. Nope. Still fun, and now that results are up I have an unofficial 9th overall/3rd AG.

[scott_sweeney]

I am SOOOO getting back into MTB racing. This sounds like too much fun!!!!!

Have they created a 14 year old hardtail with V-Brakes division yet?????