2006 Mountain Bike Racing results here.
I did my first mt. bike race ever last night. It was the 3rd race in the 8-race series of Boulder Short Track Mt. Biking. I entered the slowest division (Class C), since that’s what I race on the roads and I’d never done a mountain bike race before. I hadn't been on my mountain bike since September. It was dirty and creaky. In the field with me was teammate Jon McClurg, an experienced cyclocross racer who had tutored me on those techniques. He’s also a veteran of these races.
I started in about the middle of the 30-rider field and so was 15th or so after the race to the hole-shot. Moving up was impossible on most of the course, but there were at least 3 or 4 short locations on the course in which to pass. I consistently moved up through the field, picking off riders on the uphills and wide-open flat sections. The course twisted and turned quite a bit with some technical, loose corners. They changed the course for our group from the Men’s B race, which had raced just before us. They put in a much steeper, looser climb and I had to run this section on the first lap due to so many riders in front of me. It was some good cyclocross practice. The race is really a mountain biking Criterium and felt like a cyclocross race. These races last 20-25 minutes and I was pretty much on the rivet the entire time.
It was a bit confusing since they started the Women’s A group just 30 seconds in front of us and I passed most of these riders before the end of the race. I viewed passing each one of these riders as an extra buffer to any chasers. With three laps to go, I had moved up into 2nd place, but still a good ways behind the leader, with two female riders between us. At the start of the last lap, I had closed things down to the leader and was about five seconds behind him with no female riders between us. Early in this last lap a female rider in front of the lead man crashed and he ran into her. That held him up and I closed to within maybe two seconds. I felt a bit bad just going around the sprawled out female rider, but there were tons of people around to help her.
Even with the prospect of catching the leader, I was fading fast. I had worked too hard to get to this point and was dying. I slipped back and was now concerned about a chaser. I knew I had another gear for at least 30 seconds or so. I could afford to let him close a bit on me and then push hard the final bit to ensure he couldn’t pass me. Unfortunately, the last time up the really steep, loose hill I drifted too far to the right, into really deep, loose dirt. I had to jump up and run it a few steps and my chaser went by me. I had blown it on a technical aspect, though I was at my limit aerobically as well. I had a huge gap on 4th place. In fact, I couldn’t even see him, but with all the twists, he could have been just 20 seconds back. I finished 3rd.
This was fun and I plan to do more of these. Third place was a good result for my first ever mountain bike race, though the field wasn’t that big or that strong. Some of the riders from the earlier races said that that the race was particularly fast this week, so that bodes well. Next week, with my added confidence that I can contend, I’ll stage at the front and hopefully not have to work so hard to get up to the leader. That will hopefully produce a better result.
Teammates Kris Thompson and Eric Peltier raced in the Men’s B race. They finished 12th and 10th, respectively, I think. Bobby, Ward, and Greg Keller raced in the Men’s A race, but I didn’t stay to watch it.