I do have to say that the Big Bear 2x12 was by far the most fun I have had at a relay race. It allowed for all the hard out efforts of a race, but also allowed for a fun relaxing atmosphere with support crew and team members due to it not being a 24 hour event. I went there to race first, but I also made a mini vacation with family and friends out of it.
After arriving at Big Bear we set up camp and soon after went out for a look at the race loop. I got to ride with my SMT chicks friend Meredith and it was nice to catch up with her. We were pleasantly surprised with some of the course changes and excited about how fast the course would be the next day. When I was done it was Lee's turn for a ride. He is not into racing, but he loves to ride and I was pleased that he would be able to do some riding while we were here. Dinner was by the camp fire and then we retired to our tent. Darn if I didn't remember about the West Virginia Night Club boys. Ear plugs should have been on the list of items to bring. Fireworks are not the best to fall asleep to. Once they died down it was dream land and a good nights sleep.
The next morning my teammate Cassie Smith arrived. We had decided that I would start the relay. I had never started the relay before, but without having to start Lemans style I was game. The first lap added on a hill climb to help separate the field prior to entering the single track. This was not much fun, but I got a good position in and only had to pass a few riders to get a clear run at the trail. The 12 miles of this course has such awesome variety that you don't get bored and it gives one, well at least me, motivation to push during all sections. There are technical sections with rocks and roots, piney sections to haul on, twisty fun stuff, rocky descents to get your thrill on and then of course the night club likes to add surprises to their section of trail. This year it was a rock jump! Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the exciting ending to the course which takes you on a flyover that is more like a bridge. Once over the bridge it was baton exchanging time and Cassie was off. My first lap time was about 1:11, second 1:09, third 1:10. I have not seen official times yet. I am pretty sure that Cassie's first lap was a 1:08:57 and she scored the fastest women's lap. Go Cassie!! It was a bummer that we were racing against ourselves due to there not being another duo female team. To make it exciting we started gunning for the co-ed class. We almost got it, but Gunnar and Betsy won the day! Oh yeah, and what would a race be without a huge orange and red radar making thunderstorm. While Cassie was completing her second lap and I was readying for my final lap a doozy of a storm threatened our existence. Fortunately the 45 mile per hour winds and torrential rain swirled by us, but we did get some boomers and steady rain. Whoopie another mud fest!
Cassie finished her last lap in time to help lead the little ones out for their race. Both our Levi's raced the two lap single track loop and they both won their respective age groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment