The Wheel Den: NECS #3/MMBA #2 Race Report 6/24

1st Expert Vet I
4th Overall (I think)

This was my 3rd mtb race of the season, first in the Maine series. Not exactly my favorite course as the climbing is negligible and the terrain technical and consistently rough. I pre-rode the course on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised with the dry conditions. It was wet and muddy last year, adding to the challenge. A semi adverse by-product of the dryness was the fact that the trail rode very rough. All roots and rocks were exposed and harsh. I was extremely happy to be riding full suspension. Even then it was still bone jarring at times. I left feeling pretty prepared. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy the racing, but at least I could ride everything.
Sunday’s weather was primo, sunny and 70’s. I headed down early and Babs and the boys arrived in time to see the finish and run the kids’ race. They then headed south to the Cape. I don’t know where the time goes before a race! I arrive over 1 hour before the event, yet still find myself shortchanging my warmup time. I rode maybe 15mins. Before heading to the start line, this was way insufficient especially given this course’s singletrack nature and a good start key to success. Oh well, I was 2nd row and went off with the group as prepared as I could get. Luckily, the start is on a dirt road climb, although there are some more preferable lines. I hit the climb and passed as many as I could before it got singlefile. I believe I was top-5 in the woods. The start was staggered as 2 other groups began ahead of us at 1 min. intervals. Well, it didn’t take more then 5 mins until we piled into the rear of the 2nd group. Traffic would be the story for the rest of the day.

Pro Michael Patrick literally jumped ahead of me and made headway plowing through people. I also knew Matt Boobar and Aaron Millet were ahead, but I stuck with my gameplan of racing the course and not others, a strategy learned from NASCAR! I also didn’t let the traffic affect my attitude. Everyone else had to fight though it as well and I wasn’t about to run people off the course or put myself in a compromising line around them. So, patience and persistent pedaling was the theme for the day and it paid off.

Things strung out pretty quickly and I just focused on the course in sections at a time: hitting the open areas hard to make time, recovering on the easier singletrack, and keeping upright on the bike and getting through technical sections as smoothly and efficiently as possible. I had 1 incident where I ran up the rear of a lapper who couldn’t make a step up and had to take evasive get off the bike action, but otherwise rode smoothly. If I had to get off I did, not worrying about style points, but I was off the bike far less than before. Big Al was a real motivator as he was glued to my rear for the first half of the race. There were so many Bikemen out there I thought I was seeing things or getting lapped! I met Racin’ Rick heading into the 3rd lap and then set my sights on other in my group. I spied Aaron 2/3 into the lap and worked on gaining ground. He seemed to slip by lappers effortlessly so it took a while for me to actually catch up. The timing was right when we hit the climbs back to the start/finish and I accelerated past him wanting to be first in the technical stuff for the final lap to ride my own race. I rode the final lap cautiously hard and kept Aaron at bay despite having to contend with passing the Sport riders. I appreciate their good naturedness and willingness to let us pass. It’s not their fault they were getting overtaken. I think it was a product of too many racers on too small a course. I also passed Boobar who experienced a mechanical which relegated me to 1st place which motivated me to go a little harder at the end. I was happy to see Babs and the boys at the finish and am pleased with the result and my time in comparison with the pros in the field. My laps averaged 23 mins. But, I know the first was 25 so traffic was the big story there.

So, I come away with lots of confidence. I have to credit the Kona Hei Hei with at least 50% of the success. I am very comfortable on it and the full suspension is a huge energy saver. I spend far less mental and physical energy going around obstacles, I go through them instead! It’s durability is also impressive as this was as hard as I’ve ridden it yet and it’s still kicking.

The whole Wheelden team was there and Drake and Fenix both raced a course equally tough as the one we rode. Everyone earned a podium spot as Drake was 2nd and Fenix 3rd, not that it matters! They both rode hard and pedaled right to the end on the Kamikazee downhill.