By the time we arrived races were already well under way, so we quickly got to registration and then watched the end of the high school race. The organizers of the race were really on there 'A' game, races were starting and finishing right on schedule, the high schoolers finished and the beginner mens race rolled up to the start line. Ashton and I watched the start of the cat3(beginners) race and then I headed off to the car to put on my kit and get warmed up. I got in a decent warm up and headed to the start line, stopping on the way to say hi to my friends on the 400 Smith team. I got to the side of the start line where my race was in que only to realize I was about to go up against a very large field(for a mtb race) and so I worked my way up as close to the front as possible. The organizer called us out onto course to take our place at the start and I was able to move up several more positions during the shuffle to be in a decent starting spot. The organizer went over a few specifics of the race and then sent us off.
The Course: 1.3mi.
This track was a lot of fun, It was mostly single track with three gravel jeep tracks(good for passing, or being passed), a couple sections of off camber switchbacks that made a loop with a large mound in the middle which the course climbed repeatedly before coming around to the start/finish.
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1195702Lap1: 6:40:00
The first lap was wicked fast but I managed to move my way up to fifth wheel and hold it for the remainder of the lap. Not getting there early proved to make the beginning of the race interesting for me, with no pre-ride I was a little sketchy on a couple of the the smaller more technical sections.
Lap 2: 6:55:00
Coming around to the start of the second lap I was feeling good but was finding it a bit hard to breathe, the air was crisp and dry and for the most part the track was extremely dusty. About half way through the lap, approaching a small climb I realized that I was still in my big ring from the initial acceleration of the start, I decided it would be best to start spinning a higher cadence and shifted down. Coming through a couple of slick switches a rider in front of me slid out and I had to all but come to a stop to keep from going down as well, during this brief delay a couple of riders made it around me and I began chasing.
Lap 3: 7:14:00
The third lap I really started feeling it, I decided to back off a bit and try to recover a little, focusing more on cornering and handling and less pushing a hard tempo. This allowed me to catch my breath a bit, but it also meant that a few more riders passed me during that time.
Lap 4: 7:05:00
Going into the forth lap I knew recovery time was over and went right back to hammering. I kept the pace up the whole lap, no one passed me...but I didn't pass anyone either. I came around through the last corner and finished strong.
After the race I found Ashton, caught my breath and we headed to the beer garden for New Belgium tall-boys, we watched a bit of the expert race, said goodbye tour friends and headed out for dinner. The organizers were very quick to have results posted but because they didn't have the timing system up and running yet only the top group of riders were scored, but from my guesstimation and reports from both Ashton and Malcolm I finished somewhere between 12th & 15th in a field of roughly 30. I had a lot of fun and plan on doing the rest of the series so keep posted for more stories from New Belgium.
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