Elite 4th/8
I took a detour due west en-route to the Cape and hit up this EFTA event in Sunapee, NH. Ordinarily I’d be competing at the Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race at this time of year. But several factors helped me decide it was not meant to be this year. The hope is this is better prep for Natz next week anyway.
This was a seriously small-town event run by the Sunapee Lions Club held not so much at the Sunapee ski resort, but more in a field that has some fire roads and simple singletrack in the woods. 
Nonetheless, I was happy to enjoy an effort on the mountain bike on a nice albeit hot day. At registration there was no elite class so I expected to be doing the expert age-class thing. However, at the start line they asked if there was anyone who wanted to race elite so I rolled up with 7 others and we were off first. The course was very reminiscent of Sugarloaf, 5 miles of wide open rolling double track that would periodically dice into singletrack sections. But way easier in terms of less climbing and non-technical singletrack. So it was no surprise we quickly settled into a fast 5-man freight train with U23 National Team Member Ethan Glimour setting the early pace with pros Adam Snyder and Nathan Ringquist in second and third then a Rhino Racing rider and I bringing up the rear. The pace was quick but not intolerable. The front got shuffled a bit after Ringquist was pushing the pace on the climbs the last 3rd of the lap. We rolled through the start/finish as a group intact and set out for our 2nd lap. Given the fact they started novices some 20 minutes after us and lap times were like 25 minutes we quickly came upon lapped traffic. After mowing a few of them down, the group was shuffled again and I found myself in 2nd on Ringquist’s wheel and experiencing first-hand his intention to push the climbs but chill a bit on the flats. All was going according to plan when we hit one of the bumpiest tech sections and I dropped a chain and was ghost peddling forcing Gilmour and Snyder to dismount as they were right on my tail. I gathered my crap up and got rolling again only to drop the chain again, this time those guys got around me and my losing time began. I tried to chase back on through the start/finish but also needed to slow to pick up a bottle. It was tough to make up time on the fast double track so I hoped I could eat into the lead in the techy stuff. Unfortunately, the lappers were everywhere now, especially in these areas and instead of making time, I was losing it. I had a couple of dabs having to come to complete stops behind some riders, including watching a guy ham it up for the crowd and launch himself over a boulder and land flat on his side! So the 3rd and 4th laps I was on my own, catching glimpses of Gilmour ahead, but could never close the gap and settled for 4th place, 1 out of the $. That’s OK because my prize was arriving on the Cape and greeted by the family.
So it’s a week of R&R with the family then the MMBA event at a new Bangor location.
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