Mount Snow - Mike
Mt. Snow, the standard in which all other MTB courses are compared in New England, and for good reason. There are really two parts to Mt. Snow, up and down. The up is brutal, lots of climbing, and in the past lots of technical sections. After killing yourself going up, you are hoping for a break coming down, but not a chance here. The downhill could be more taxing than climbing, lots of rocks, roots, and it is always muddy coming down hill. So like a good racer, I was looking forward to racing here.
This was to be my first race in over three weeks after my 10 day mid season break. I was able to get one for one good ride after this break, and my upperbody was suffering, and with this race coming up I knew that I was in for a challenge going downhill, and I was hoping that I would find my legs when climbing.
As the Pro class lined up, looking around it was easy to see that this was arguably the strongest field assembled in Root 66 this season, so it was going to be sweet. The whistle blows and its time to go! We hit the first climb and its time to climb, however I quickly discovered that my legs lacked any snap, and felt a bit heavy. However I was hoping that I just needed some warming up, and they would come around. Well after climbing for about 20 minutes I felt about the same, and I had slipped back to about 12th place. This is not where I had hoped to be, but I felt steady and sustainable, so now time to go down. Well, I was right, my upper body was suffering, I was bombing down the rocks, but my triceps were burning and I was starting to wish for the climb again.
So now for lab 2 of 4, and when I started to climb I still lacked snap, however I was able to still manage the same speed as the first lap, and I started making my through the field, and when I came around the second lap I think I was in something like 8th. So the race went this way for the remaining two laps, with my having heavy legs, but legs that kept going at a pretty hard pace for the whole 2.5 hour race. I finished in 5th place, and it appears that the slow and steady turtle route payed off reasonable well.
It seems that every year I am unable to feel great at Mt. Snow, even though I have a great desire to do well, and perhaps this added pressure tricks my legs into thinking that I should be sitting on a couch throwing back some nachos. Well either way, 5th place for not feeling terribly good is all right with me, and riding up Mt. Snow 4 times is always an accomplishment.
On another note I got bitted by three different things while I was racing.
Non are as serious as a Bear Bite, but the tree bite has left a good mark and bruise on my hip.
Mount Snow - Nate
Mt. Snow, the standard in which all other MTB courses are compared in New England, and for good reason. There are really two parts to Mt. Snow, up and down. The up is brutal, lots of climbing, and in the past lots of technical sections. After killing yourself going up, you are hoping for a break coming down, but not a chance here. The downhill could be more taxing than climbing, lots of rocks, roots, and it is always muddy coming down hill. So like a good racer, I was looking forward to racing here.
This was to be my first race in over three weeks after my 10 day mid season break. I was able to get one for one good ride after this break, and my upperbody was suffering, and with this race coming up I knew that I was in for a challenge going downhill, and I was hoping that I would find my legs when climbing.
As the Pro class lined up, looking around it was easy to see that this was arguably the strongest field assembled in Root 66 this season, so it was going to be sweet. The whistle blows and its time to go! We hit the first climb and its time to climb, however I quickly discovered that my legs lacked any snap, and felt a bit heavy. However I was hoping that I just needed some warming up, and they would come around. Well after climbing for about 20 minutes I felt about the same, and I had slipped back to about 12th place. This is not where I had hoped to be, but I felt steady and sustainable, so now time to go down. Well, I was right, my upper body was suffering, I was bombing down the rocks, but my triceps were burning and I was starting to wish for the climb again.
So now for lab 2 of 4, and when I started to climb I still lacked snap, however I was able to still manage the same speed as the first lap, and I started making my through the field, and when I came around the second lap I think I was in something like 8th. So the race went this way for the remaining two laps, with my having heavy legs, but legs that kept going at a pretty hard pace for the whole 2.5 hour race. I finished in 5th place, and it appears that the slow and steady turtle route payed off reasonable well.
It seems that every year I am unable to feel great at Mt. Snow, even though I have a great desire to do well, and perhaps this added pressure tricks my legs into thinking that I should be sitting on a couch throwing back some nachos. Well either way, 5th place for not feeling terribly good is all right with me, and riding up Mt. Snow 4 times is always an accomplishment.
On another note I got bitted by three different things while I was racing.
Non are as serious as a Bear Bite, but the tree bite has left a good mark and bruise on my hip.
Mount Snow - Nate
I look forward to Mount Snow every year since I feel more confident in my abilities on long steep climbs, and super technical downhills. The course this year was full of both. I was able to preride the day before and overall, I was not impressed with the majority of the course. Later during the race though my thoughts changed since the trails became re-worn in and flow once again took hold of the trail. The course has gone through a large face lift since last year. The first climb and descent had been bulldozed into double track, which took away some nice fun singletrack. Overall I think it allowed the race to develop a little better since no one was fighting to get to the singletrack first, followed by a pile up of over eager cyclists.
It looks like the bad luck has found me again this year, or I haven't shaken it off yet. I fought my way to the front on the first climb, and decided I would sit in about third position to mark a couple of other riders who I know would be very strong. We climbed up a massive climb that lead us by the DH course and up another fire road. Up this climb, a tuft of grass decided to jam in my rear derailleur and caused my chain to jump into my spokes. I had to get off and put my chain back on, while watching the rest of the group pass me. I tried catching back up to the marks that I set, and going across a ski slope I started to hear a hissing. I wanted to tell myself it was a blade of grass rubbing my tire or something to that effect. Then everything became very squishy up the next short and steep climb. It was a rear flat... and only ten minutes into the first lap, and none the less on a grassy ski slope with no rocks or any real obstacles.
So I decided to flip my bike over, take a seat and change my tube. I got everything out and it must have looked like I was picnicking on the side of the trail, sitting there in the grass with all my tools surrounding me. I always get nervous doing tire changed in the field like that. I just kept reminding myself, slow and steady is fast. If I try to hurry I will fumble around and waste time, so take it easy, a couple deep breathes and try to enjoy the unexpected break. One mistake could leave me with no tubes and a long walk back to the starting line.
After that ordeal I continued on my way and found another rider from my class on the side of the trail with a flat that he was repairing. He was well on his way into the fix as I rode by. So my one thought was, YES not last place! I made my way up through the men and women who passed me, and tried to keep a level head. Since I was there I might as well enjoy the trail. A good position is nice but not required to have fun. So I continued along and found two people from my class part way into the second lap. I was very surprised! I started thinking, well maybe they had problems too, I am all set here, but lets see what will happen. On the downhill I caught some more people, and really started to think I had a good shot a placing fairly high. So I started pushing it.
The last technical corner of the downhill I decided to take a new line that had not been worn in yet. I missed all the loose rocks and had the edge of the trail to act like a berm. I didn't realize that the road I was turning onto had no berms or ruts to dig into and my bike decided that I should get a closer look at the corner, face first. I got up and looked at my handle bars and found that they were about 45 degrees off. While fixing them I found out that there were a bunch of people in the outside of the corner who got a fairly good show. I yelled to them "If any of you got pictures or video of that I would like to have a copy!".
In the end I climbed up to fourth place for a respectable finish minus all of the mishaps. I look forward to the race next year minus the bad luck.
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