Composed of four categories, First Timers, Novice, Sport, and Expert, I raced in both Novice and Sport while Ted just focused on Sport. Being much newer to mountain bike racing, I laid it on the line for the novice class, while deciding to ride sport to gain some trail time/experience, more race-day experience, and a good workout.
Novice Race-
Turns out, Novice was enough for me, or at least my bike. With a sprint start, I think I went into the trail in roughly 12th place. For the first 15 minutes or so, I spent time just trying to dodge all of the people crashing and slowing down the group.
Lap 1 - 21:05
Going into lap 2 I was feeling good. I was with riders who were much closer to my pace, though I think my engine was a bit better. I passed a few more guys and had my first chance to ride alone for a few minutes.
Lap 2 - 15:21
Final lap; feeling a little tired, but still pretty good. At the beginning of the final lap I decided to put some power down, hoping I could hold on. A race medic yelled to me I was in 5th place with roughly 2/3 of a lap to go, or about 3 miles. I passed 2 guys on the laps' only long-hard climb and put a little space between myself and them.
Lap 3 - 15:05
Final result - 4th. WHAT?! I thought I had third. Turns out the medic mis-counted. Oh well, 4th overall, 3rd in the male 20-29 category.
Sport Race-
I could feel some lactic acid still built up when lining up for this race. I knew I'd have to take it easy, and just have fun. At the start, Ted took off and hit the trail head in about 16th place, I would guess I was around 20th.
Surprisingly enough I kept Ted in sight for 12-14 minutes! At that point I was already at red line and only half-way through the first of 3 laps! I had to let up and he pulled away immediately.
Shortly after that, I dismounted for a long muddy climb, but couldn't get clipped back in. Thinking it was just built-up mud I stomped my left cleat into the pedal and, BAM! Clipped in! Problem? The crank arm was no longer attached to the bike, even though it was attached to my shoe! The crank arm bolt had come loose on me. I jumped off, did a bit of work to get the arm back on and rode about 3-4 more minutes until it fell off again.
Time to pack it in. I was dogged, and this was the perfect time for a mechanical (if there ever is one!). I walked about 20 minutes back to the start/lap/finish line and called it a day.
Ted ended up finishing 5th overall in the Sport category, good enough to upgrade to expert. That was really his only goal for the day.
All said and done, a good day at the races for us I think!
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