I spent another weekend away from home to participate to the Ore to Shore XC race. The weather was ideal and the long drive (8 hours) was completed without any troubles. At the registration, talking to friends, I was trying to understand what was ahead of me. They mentioned some hike a bike, water puddles???
Since it was my first participation at this race, I did not qualify for one of the 75 "preferred start" positions. Consequently, I would be staged with the remaining 600 competitors. When I arrived at the start location, I immediately placed my bike on the ground to reserve a spot as close to the front as possible. The 2 front lines behind the preferred start area were already full, so I left my bike on the 3rd line and went back to the car to relax.
5 minutes prior to the start, I arrived to the starting line – what a crowd! Everybody was ready to take off. I hurried up to try to find my bike in the crowd. Fortunately, the bike was right where I left it. I was now hoping that the start will be somewhat conservative to allow my legs to warm up slowly.
The gun went off and the train left the station at great speed. Well no quite the descent warm-up I was hoping for... My legs felt sore from the violent effort. I pressed on and 2 to 3 miles in I was in the top 20, right where I wanted to be; next to last year's 2nd place finisher (Mike Anderson).
The little hill called Lucy's hill, sorted things a little more before a relaxed pace on the downhill / flat trails allowed racers to join back to the front group. Everything was new to me and my goal was just to stay in the front before the "power house" racers will crush me on the fast rolling trails and dirt roads.
We rode thru some sandy portions, along side a railroad, etc. until a reached a creek; I carefully carried my bike using the bridge (to avoid dirt in the drive train); but was probably too careful and had to close a 50 yard gap. It was all for nothing as we reached a very long water puddle which was quite deep in spots. I lost some ground in the mucky waters, forcing me to a hard chase to close the gap.
Finally, we reached a double track trail underneath some power lines. Mike A. was slowly letting a gap being created and by the time I realized it and went around him, the front group was already 100 yards away. I closed the gap by an all-out effort.
One mile later or so, I screwed up one of the tricky steep climb and end-up having to close the gap one more time. When we finally reached the hike a bike section called "Misery Hill" I was dropped again. Each time, I performed a mini time trial to get back to the front; each time it was taking me more time....
At the half way point, we were 7 riders: Mike Simonson, Derek Graham, Brian Matter, Tristan Schouten, TJ Woodruff, Nathan Guerra and me. Prior to the race, I gave myself a 50% chance to be with the front group at that point so it was already a victory of some sort.
By now, there were mad accelerations followed by really easy pedaling. Yes, it was just a road race only we were on mountain bikes.
Blurry several miles of hard efforts later, we were still the 7 of us, 3 miles from the finish. I was struggling for a while and in a small steep incline, I lost contact. This time there was no bridging back. When I finally moved my body over the short climb, the leaders were already at top speed. Amazing how fast they were pulling away!
The racers behind me could not be too far; I maintained a good pace to the finish line and arrived in 7th place. It is a very satisfying result not so much for the overall position but rather by my riding. For the first time, I could ride with the lead group on a race course which does not hit on my strength. I also noticed severe lack in some skills which I need to improve if I am going to be a contender for the win like: dismount, run, remount or ride 2 feet behind the preceding rider rather than 5 yards behind....
Time now to rest for the Fool's Gold 100 in GA.
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