Terlingua was Feb, 16th.......2 weeks later comes Bar-H on March 2nd. Then Waco in two weeks, these are 3 of the hardest trails and we hit them....1-2-3.....whew!
I do a nice pre-ride on the SS of course, in right at 1 hour. Sat. afternoon I help with the registration for a few hours, then head over to get the Paragon ready. I'm dusting it down and find a crack going 3/4 of the way around my bottom bracket. I only ride it at races, and hadn't been on it since Terlingua. I guess the rocky downhill took it's toll, probably had a small stess crack that I hadn't seen. Well, I'm out on the geared bike but thankfully have the SS. Of course this trail has a ton of climbing, much of it loose and rocky, and all my competition with have gears. But I still feel I can get a top 10, maybe squeze out a top 5. My biggest fear is the mile long downhill start......everyone will be in the bigring and I'll be lucky to hit the singletrack towards the back.......fighting my way to the front.
So, there are 17 of us lined up as the whistle blows, and I stand up and hammer it with all I've got. I take the hole shot, and hit the first turn (about 50 yards out) in first, sweep it and pedal till I start spinning out. At this time all I can do is lean forward and try to pick up momentum. Thanks to not being afraid of downhills, or loose dirt, I stay well in first place all the way to where it flattens out. Un-able to gain any more monmentum, 4-5 guys pass me as we get with-in 100 yards of the single track. I re-take 2 of those before we hit the first climbs, then catch and pass the others with-in the first mile of singletrack. Shortly after this I start to catch racers from the groups that went off before us. Usually this takes a little longer, but we used 1minute splits as opposed to the normal 3 minutes. This is one of the places I shine....passing, some people are to timid.....I charge and pass aggressively. I got to do something here I've never gotten to do before. Yell "lead rider coming though" as I passed. It's not much, but man, did it feel good. Next we hit Hole in the Tree, a really fast rolling downhill section that I know will help we extend my lead. This is pretty much how the next several miles/minutes go......catch riders, pass riders, catch riders, pass riders.
I am now on my second lap, I've made the first 2 hard climbs and am pushing it up the final climb on Horseshoe to the overlook. Another racer in my class rides past me......crap! I knew the climbs would be my undoing, but figured if I could keep the lead till after Splitears and BOIA, no-one could catch me. At this point there were still quite a few hard climbs to make, and I had no way of knowing how close the 3rd place guy was. So, do I hammer it and challege this guy, maybe blow-up and be overtaken by someone behind. Or, hang with him best I can, protecting second place, and challenge him toward the end. I stayed with him, which was hard as he had the gears for climbing. I never let him get out of my sight......even pulled to with-in 20 yards several times. I thought I could make up ground on the downhills coming up. When we hit the end of Hole-in the Tree, he was like 30-40 seconds in front. Dang, he was a good downhiller as well. He kept that distance all the way to the end and finished 35-40 seconds in first. Again, gears at that last section might have made a difference......but still second place on a SS was sweet. Turns out, the 3rd place racer was a good 2.5 minutes behind......I could have challenged him sooner without the fear of being caught, even if I did burn out some trying.
Monday morning, drop bike at B&B Bikes so they can send the frame to Fisher. It looks like I will most likely be racing Waco on the SS, unless, somehow they get the frame back in time. But I am very familiar with the trail and have done it with a 34-18 and will run a 34-20 for the race. I am now confident that I can hold my own even on the SS......but as the climbing is substantal there, I'm hoping for the 1x9er to be ready. But that is part of racing......you do what you have to get to the finish line.
I do a nice pre-ride on the SS of course, in right at 1 hour. Sat. afternoon I help with the registration for a few hours, then head over to get the Paragon ready. I'm dusting it down and find a crack going 3/4 of the way around my bottom bracket. I only ride it at races, and hadn't been on it since Terlingua. I guess the rocky downhill took it's toll, probably had a small stess crack that I hadn't seen. Well, I'm out on the geared bike but thankfully have the SS. Of course this trail has a ton of climbing, much of it loose and rocky, and all my competition with have gears. But I still feel I can get a top 10, maybe squeze out a top 5. My biggest fear is the mile long downhill start......everyone will be in the bigring and I'll be lucky to hit the singletrack towards the back.......fighting my way to the front.
So, there are 17 of us lined up as the whistle blows, and I stand up and hammer it with all I've got. I take the hole shot, and hit the first turn (about 50 yards out) in first, sweep it and pedal till I start spinning out. At this time all I can do is lean forward and try to pick up momentum. Thanks to not being afraid of downhills, or loose dirt, I stay well in first place all the way to where it flattens out. Un-able to gain any more monmentum, 4-5 guys pass me as we get with-in 100 yards of the single track. I re-take 2 of those before we hit the first climbs, then catch and pass the others with-in the first mile of singletrack. Shortly after this I start to catch racers from the groups that went off before us. Usually this takes a little longer, but we used 1minute splits as opposed to the normal 3 minutes. This is one of the places I shine....passing, some people are to timid.....I charge and pass aggressively. I got to do something here I've never gotten to do before. Yell "lead rider coming though" as I passed. It's not much, but man, did it feel good. Next we hit Hole in the Tree, a really fast rolling downhill section that I know will help we extend my lead. This is pretty much how the next several miles/minutes go......catch riders, pass riders, catch riders, pass riders.
I am now on my second lap, I've made the first 2 hard climbs and am pushing it up the final climb on Horseshoe to the overlook. Another racer in my class rides past me......crap! I knew the climbs would be my undoing, but figured if I could keep the lead till after Splitears and BOIA, no-one could catch me. At this point there were still quite a few hard climbs to make, and I had no way of knowing how close the 3rd place guy was. So, do I hammer it and challege this guy, maybe blow-up and be overtaken by someone behind. Or, hang with him best I can, protecting second place, and challenge him toward the end. I stayed with him, which was hard as he had the gears for climbing. I never let him get out of my sight......even pulled to with-in 20 yards several times. I thought I could make up ground on the downhills coming up. When we hit the end of Hole-in the Tree, he was like 30-40 seconds in front. Dang, he was a good downhiller as well. He kept that distance all the way to the end and finished 35-40 seconds in first. Again, gears at that last section might have made a difference......but still second place on a SS was sweet. Turns out, the 3rd place racer was a good 2.5 minutes behind......I could have challenged him sooner without the fear of being caught, even if I did burn out some trying.
Monday morning, drop bike at B&B Bikes so they can send the frame to Fisher. It looks like I will most likely be racing Waco on the SS, unless, somehow they get the frame back in time. But I am very familiar with the trail and have done it with a 34-18 and will run a 34-20 for the race. I am now confident that I can hold my own even on the SS......but as the climbing is substantal there, I'm hoping for the 1x9er to be ready. But that is part of racing......you do what you have to get to the finish line.
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