Season Opener

Yesterday was the first MTB race this year for most folks in the area. Partly cloudy, upper 50s, perfect trail conditions. 177 folks showed up in all to race the Lost Valley Luau. There were a decent amount of spectators for a local MTB race it seemed.

Jessica, one of the MTB United beauties, was in attendance. I love when she's at the races, it's motivation to try even harder. She took pics as well. I really appreciate it. Most of the pics are of me so feel free to skip them or just look past me.

PBR was there.




Walch was there.



I assume he was there to look at all of us sissy boys. See, Walch is a different type of human. I guess sort of like superhuman. He's training for his second 100 mile race. On foot. Last year was his first in the Flint Hills of Kansas. 100 miles of running and he finished between 23 and 24 hours. This year he's attempting the Leadville 100. That's Leadville Colorado. Summit County. 12000 feet of elevation. Yes, there are people who run 100 miles straight in the mountains. He'll be one of them. Then he'll smoke a cigarette, kick your ass, drink a keg, own you on the rugby field, go skiing naked, and projectile vomit farther than you can throw.

Anyway..... This year there is a true single statewide series, the Midwest Fat Tire Championship Series. The format for the XC races will be a timed approach, similar to most lap endurance events. You can go back out for another lap as long as you're under the time limit. Hour and a half was the sport and expert cutoff so knowing the Lost Valley race course we were all prepped for three laps.

Disclaimer: The following is a long, probably boring, account of how I remember the race. Feel free to skip this paragraph.

At the start line they split us up by class and age group. My class, Sport 30-39 had 20 racers. I lined up right at the front in the middle with two Dogfish guys I believe Ron Bridal and Jeff Yielding. We had a short discussion about the movie Rad. There was about a mile gravel section to start so I wanted to be second or third back to ride the draft but stay up.

Go and a few of us really jam to start and I find myself second behind Ron Bridal and I stayed there for a moment but he was really cranking and I stayed off. That left me at the head of the pack, pulling everyone. I wanted to take it easy and let someone come around, but I pushed a little too hard watching Ron pulling away. A rider or two came around right before the descent to get good position. By the end of the descent I was back in front of everyone, including Ron. I don't climb well so I decided to just relax and not chase any that came around me on that first climb. I believe I crested the climb in 4th. Jeff Yielding got off the front along with Ira Brown almost immediately and that left a chase group of 3 of us. Myself, Ron, and one other gentleman. Ron and the other guy put a bit of a gap on me that first lap but I was able to catch and pass them almost immediately on the second, as well as catch Ira shortly thereafter. Ira coached me on a bit and we worked together to try and reach the leader Jeff. I caught sight of him on the last section of singletrack on the second lap and knew we were reeling him in. We caught him before the end of the second lap and passed him just before the first climb on the third. I relaxed a bit and Ira dropped me on the hill. Jeff was climbing right behind me but I could tell he was a bit fatigued. At the top of the climb I turned and noticed I had gapped him a bit so I tried to put some distance on him. That worked and I never saw him again. I could still see Ira maybe 10 - 20 seconds ahead and wondered if I could bridge up to him. We entered the singletrack and got to a climb where I had been feeling good and I could tell that I was gaining on him. On the last turn of the climb my left hamstring completely cramped and I fell over and had to work it out. Walked the bike to the top of that climb after some stretching, always watching for other racers. I never saw any and just eased back on the bike and stayed just below the cramp line. I'd lost a few minutes and couldn't push myself without cramping so just tried to ride consistent and make sure I didn't cramp. Crossed the line without ever seeing any of the trailing racers, so I stayed safe. Don't think I could've hung with Ira at the end anyway, he was strong.

Ended up 2nd out of 20 in my group. I got a run at the prize table and ended up with a pretty cool t-shirt. Looking at the times, I think that would be 6th out of the 63 sport riders, including singlespeeders. Felt pretty strong aside from the cramp issue. Had a lot of fun, and afterward it was nice to catch up with a lot of the nice folks I've met in the St. Louis cycling community.


Results

Some Pics

Todd's Account


Nico Klein Eddie Toscani and Gino Sandknopp Greg Fillino Sandbox, 3rd and 1st SS respectively, check out their shades scored from the prize table. WOODGRAIN and TORTOISE SHELL.





The good Dr. McClaren verfies said shade materials are genuine.




After the opening descent.




Ron Dogfish from the race




Ira (in red)from the race




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The Finish Line




The boys from Momentum: Scott, Keith, and Jason.




Keeven rounding the bend, after flatting on his first lap. He also found a hefty crack in his frame today. No telling when that happened.




Watch out for the bottle and Jeff Dogfish