Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cascade Classic MTB race 2010: rocks, roots, mud and confusion = DNF: Dr. Jim


I ventured north to Montoursville PA for the Cascade Classic which was incorporated for the first time into the Mid Atlantic Super Series (MASS). The course was on private land not open to the public and was billed to include a lot of newly cut single track. I realized the night before the race that the drive was going to be 3.5 hrs which made me think twice about the commitment of time; I packed up the car early the next morning and headed North West for what was going to be quite an adventure.  


The remoteness of the venue diminished participation of the regular MASS crew although a core group of competitive cyclists showed up. I got there early enough to pre-ride part of the course. The weather was perfect and I was psyched to get out on the course. Within 10 yards of the first stretch of single track I realized that this was going to be a tough day. The course was on very technical single track that was significantly littered with rocks and roots.  Three inches of rain the day before on land that resembled a marsh made for extremely wet and muddy conditions which compounded the difficulty of the rocks/roots. After about 1 mile of a pre-ride I came back to the car and calmed my self down hoping (praying) that the remaining 6 miles of the 7 mile course was going to be easier to navigate. 


The expert/elite riders took off at 11 AM. I made it through the first mile of the course in reasonably good shape looking for a break in the rigors of the course. Unfortunately the degree of difficulty went in the wrong direction – it got harder! Much harder!! We dropped down to what resembled swamp that connected a series of mud bogs via small bridges. After ascending up some easily navigated fire roads, we entered into a series of incredibly steep, rocky and slippery drops as well as freshly cut off camber single track filled with roots and branches that had just lost their bark and were as slippery as ice. To make matters worse, at about the 2/3 point of the course, there was an unmarked turn in which a bunch of us (from what I can tell at least 30 of the 70 expert/elites) went the wrong way for quite a while. After getting back on course I completed the first lap and talked myself into starting the second lap with the hope that magically the mud would dissipate and the rocks/roots would not longer be greasy; this delusion did not last long and I bailed and returned to the car. Apparently about 1/3 of the 70 or so expert/elite riders who started decided to DNF.  Those that kept going put in lap times for the 7 mile course in excess of 1hr. With some more work this course could actually be fun as long as it was dry – adding significant quantities of mud to it made it just wrong!!

I packed myself up for a disappointing 3.5 hr ride home. On the way I called my friend Carl and arranged to meet him the next day at 6 AM in Manyunk for a 110 mile road ride up through some beautiful country north of Philly on what turned out to be a gorgeous day. Ten minutes into this ride, the experience of the previous day became a distant memory – it is amazing how therapeutic a simple bike ride with a friend can be. 

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