Landmine Classic

Nate

The Landmine Classic race was a very unique course for the Root 66 circuit. It consisted of one lap that was 25.4 miles long. There were multiple feed zones on the course so water should not have been a big issue. I decided to use a camel back with a small bladder and a water bottle just so I did not have to worry about running out of water. This way I could concentrate on the race at hand instead of worrying about staying hydrated. The course was very fast and dry and seemed to get more technical as the race progressed.

The start was a little different than in races past, since the juniors went off the line with my group along with the 30-39 men. I tried to stay in the front of the huge group at the start and it payed off. I had a feeling I would be pretty strong and very motivated because this was the last race of the series and I had just come off a decent break after the Windham World Cup. The guys at the front of the 30-39 class were holding a blistering pace and I just tried to keep up. Eventually we caught the pro women's field and passed most of them. Mary Mcconneloug was a bit further up the trail and I tried to stay with her for a bit. I passed her at one point and took off. I was really excited about that since she is a top notch cyclist who I look up to. After my excitment subsided she caught back up to me and dropped me like I was standing on the side of the trail like a spectator, but at least I got to mix it up a little bit.

The second half of the race did not go as well as I planned. A calf cramp stopped me dead in my tracks after a very steep and short climb. I knew I had to stay on my bike and keep my cadence up and I would be fine. At that point forward I played a game of damage control. There were signs on the trees for mile markers which were a double edged sword. It was nice to know how far into the race I was, but when you expect two or three miles to have passed and only one mile has gone, it makes you realize how much more you have to go.

Overall I was very happy with my performance, coming in first in the race by less than a couple of minutes. The series also had podiums for the overall leaders for the season. I was very happy to step on the podium in third place overall. Minus all of the mechanical issues, and flat tires this was a very successful mountain bike season. Now it is time to see what will happen in the upcoming cyclocross season.

Windham World Cup

Nate-

I have been waiting for this race for half of the summer. I have been to this course a couple of times before and thought that it was a lot of fun since the climbs and descents suited me very well. I arrived the day before to preride the course. On the way to the mountain I heard a pop from the back of the car and thought that the car hit something. When we got to the parking lot, I found out that my front tire was sitting in front of the muffler, and the tire blew out due to the heat. I was frustrated that I forgot to check the wheels before we left, but I was partly happy that it did blow out. I would have been more frustrated if the tire was weakened and blew out during practice or even the race. I went up to a vendors tent and got some new rubber for my front wheel.

Practice that night went very well. The course was fairly beat up from the elite races that took place earlier in the day and some of the rock armor was kicked around. Overall the course was still fairly smooth. To my surprise they changed up the later half the track which was the downhill portion. In the middle of the downhill there was a super steep climb that only lasted about twenty seconds, but could easily cause someone to crack.

My group was the first to go off the line with two other classes. In the picture above, I am in the dead center of the front row, and having a front row start was key. I was battling for second place for the first half of the climb. I tried to ride a nice consistent race,since I could not keep up with the accelerations. I stayed in third until the top of the climb on the second lap when forth place caught me. At that point I was about 20 seconds behind second place. Forth place passed me and then covered the gap to second. They battled for a bit, and by the time I realized that I should have accelerated too, but it was too late. Their battle put some distance on me. I hoped I would be able to pick up the scraps if they blew each other up. I could not catch up to third place, no matter how hard I tried, the gap never seemed to close. I could see him on all the fire roads, but would lose sight in the single track.

I was fairly happy with my overall performance of a forth place, while racing people from all over the United States. Here is a picture about a half a second before I crossed the line. The finish was bitter sweet since I was about two minutes from the leader, and 30 seconds from third place. I had my sights set on a podium which did not happen. On the other hand racing against this many people who are so close to my ability caused me to push myself to the limit. I was happy with my performance and left everything on the course, I just needed that extra half a percent and I could have placed on the podium. Now it is time for some well deserved rest and some TLC for the bike.

Stonewall Farm Recap

Nate-

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic, but I will start with the Stonewall Farm race since that was the next race after Hodgesville Dam. Stonewall Farm is an excellent place to hike and bike. They even have a cool nature center like area with backpacks that contain binoculars and pamphlets that can be taken out to enjoy the outdoors. The course consisted of two 13 mile laps. I decided to use a camelback and water bottles because I thought the laps would be a bit over an hour and was worried about dehydration after the Hodgesville Dam race. In the end it was not necessary since it was an unusually cool day and some rain moved in not too long into the race.

The organizers started every one in the pro and cat 1 groups together. We were still grouped by age, but there were no time intervals between the age categories. The start of the race crossed a road less than a half mile into the course, and organization wise, it was easier to have every one cross the road at once. The course had a good setup for this type of start because the first couple miles were up, up, up, and did I mention up? It was a great climb that took about a half hour to complete with very few flat areas. It was on a dirt road, then to a fire road and finally double track. I tried to stay behind Mike and see if I could keep up with his killer climbing ability, but slowly fell back as all the pros put the power down on the upper part of the climb. I sat in second in my group, and was able to catch up near the last half of the lap. I did not have the climbing ability, but I was able to descend very well. The last mile and a half was on a flat bike path so the leader and I took it easy since there was very little point in laying down any type of acceleration on the flat. I tried to hang on on the up hill but again he pulled away and I tried to catch him on the downhill again, but he was just out of reach. A second place was a great confidence booster going into Windham.