MMBA Saddleback Challenge 1 Race Report

1st Overall

The decision to bag Mt. Snow was logical. Babs and the boys returned from 10 days in MN on Monday.

1. I was not going to be that guy who selfishly dragged them off for 4 days of big-race tension.

2. I saved a lot of $, without using Geico.

3. My experience @ Mt. Snow 2 weeks earlier was less than memorable and I was not optimistic about the course improving.

4. The thoughts of lining up with Trebon and Wicks then hope to finish top-40 lost its allure.

Once the decision was made, a revised activity plan was hatched. I got to spend time with the fam @ the lake, do some unstructured road riding with Ty Conklin, and oh, what's this, a Maine series race? Schwing!

The upcoming event was making use of Saddleback Mountain's nordic ski trails. I have always been a fan of these types of courses, with the benchmark being Sugarloaf's Outdoor Center in my opinion. I enjoy the punchy climbs, open straightaways to recover, and wide variety of singletrack offerings. I did this race last year and had a pretty good time of it so I was very excited to have a chance to hit it up again. Once again, however, I went solo since Drake had an LLBean casting and I let Babs handle that!

It was a gorgeous, if not brisk day. I hoped to arrive early enough for a pre-ride. But per usual of late, issues arose. This time my bike wasn't shifting for shit. Perhaps I'll remind myself to be sure to pre-ride the bike the day before to shake out the cobwebs and make adjustments. After maxing out the barrel adjuster, I went ahead and added tension to the cable at the derailleur and was good to go. With the little time I had, I just rode the first 1/2 mile of singletrack plus a new section they added and had to call it good. The legs had no shock to them and I hoped I would have the chance to open them up gradually starting with the pack.

Joining me on the line was singlespeedster Rick Nelson as well as series leader Steve Kilburn. The course layout is a lollipop in that we cruise a mile down a dirt road to the 5 mile race loop. We were slated to do 4 laps plus an additional 2 seperate singletrack sections as part of our finish lap heading back to the start area. Note to race promoters: STOP CREATING NEW TRAIL SECTIONS THE DAY BEFORE A RACE!

Although the new parts have potential, they were just not race-ready. They were loamy, muddy, moose tracky, and bitchy after riding 20 miles of fairly sweet stuff. Hopefully it'll be well broken in for the next race there.
So off the start, Racin' Rick had his big ring single gear going on and led the field through a short NASCAR loop and onto the long dirt road.

Unfortunately, this is where my big ring was bigger than his and I passed dragging Kilburn at least with me. I wanted to do some heavy damage here and drop some of the competition and at least be first into the singletrack. But alas, my legs and cardiovascular system were only set at 10. I wanted them to go to 11. So not really knowing who or how many were behind me, I put my head down and set off into the singletrack to ride at my pace. At the first clearing I looked back and it was only Kilburn in my mirror. But, he was dead on my heels either trying to pressure me to bobble, or strategizing to just sit in while I took the risks out front. Either way, we had a race on our hands and I was feeling the pressure to keep up the momentum. When we emerged for a long road climb, I noticed he was off my wheel. Not by much, but perhaps it was a chink in the armor. I pressed on and had the sense he was not as close in the next section. Then we hit the muddy area and I had deja vu of last year. 2008 was a carbon copy, but I was the guy tailing Andrew Freye. When we hit the mud last year, he rode it while I ran it and he created a gap that I could never relinquish. Today, the tables were turned and I rode it and it sounded like Steve had some trouble. I pushed it hard through the next singletrack and then came out alone at the feed zone. The race was over.

I settled into a more tolerable pace the next couple of laps, trying to be as smooth and efficient as possible. I had aspirations of playing the "big ring game" made infamous by Adam Craig and as Freye did to me last year here. But the course took its toll on me. I big ringed it where I could, but not everywhere. The legs were threatening to cramp and I had to save up for the final lap extensions so I was a bit more conservative to the end.

The finish line was after a short downhill, perfect for a "Superman" finish, a fitting cap to my first win of the season. I took a cool down spin and sent my legs into shock by hopping into a genuine cool mountain stream, a perfect post-race swim, natch. Wasn't sorry I was missing the goose poop retention pond @ Mt. Snow!

The best part of the day was the familiar faces and hearing people cheer your name. It was a Cheers moment for sure. Got a couple of weeks off after 7 races in 5 weeks. What will I do with my weekends?!