Here's a brief take on my race last Saturday.
I rode from the hotel to the start as a warm up. From the start I decided to go for the $200 preme at the top of the steep hill just past the start. One other kid apparently had the same idea. I sat on his wheel as we rode away from everyone up the hill. As we get to the top of the hill maybe 50 yards from the line I start setting up to come around him and then notice Schalk killing it from over my left shoulder. He goes much faster than we do. Now my legs hurt.
In damage control mode I file into the single track in about 20th spot. Apparently a lead group of 6 riders (including tinker and schalk) ride away from everyone at some point in the first 20 miles of single track. I realized I'm on the back of what I later learn is chase group 2. After about 40 minutes my legs have recovered enough that I can start passing these guys. One at a time I pass the 10 or so guys in the single track and then ride up to what I discover is chase group 1. I gather this based on the presence of Harlan, Eatough, Beck and some other famous kids. Ok now I can relax a little bit.
I relaxed a little too much and crashed on a rocky section I didn't see because I was riding too close to the person in front of me. No worries, the bike's ok and I hop back on. Chase group one splits and a few people pop off the back, Chris Eatough, Rob Lichenwalner, and some others. I'm still in it and feeling pretty good. Then I notice I'm riding on my rim. I pull over to blast a CO2 in to my back tire and hope the thing seals up so I don't have to stop again and put in a tube. I waved bye to chase group one.
Then I rode by myself for about an hour. I noticed two dudes catching me on the pavement so I allowed this to happen so I could start drafting and work in with them. It was Rob and Eatough. We rode together for a few hours. I asked Chris if he felt these races were more competitive this year than say last year. The answer was yes, about 3 times as competitive and he looked at his garmin gps thingy and said something to the effect of if he were having the same ride he was having today last year, he would be sitting in the top 3 rather than in 12th. Bummer.
Then we heard some brakes behind us and gathered that the front part of chase group one must have taken a wrong turn and was now catching up. This was true. Harlan proceed to push the pace and destroy chase group one. I was one of the first casualties. I waved bye to the cool kids again. I rode alone for a long time, thought about quitting bike racing, ate some hohos and other junk food items. Then after the last aid station I started to feel good again, probably due to the reappearance of single track, or caffeine. I went really fast and passed a few people that had also been shelled off of the chase group. I finished after 15 others with a time somewhere around 7:40.
The end.
Here's someone else's take on this story.
http://cyclingnews.com/mtb.php?id=mtb/2009/may09/mohican100_09
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