Sunday, October 4, 2009

Weekend Race Reports

This weekend was a busy for me racing wise; I finished up the mountain bike season and started the cross. So here's how they went:

Saturday

Angry Cow Adventures Mountain Bike Enduro

This race was kind of a last minute descision for me to do. It was a 3 hour endurance style race that I'm not that used to doing races that long and it was on private property that I hadn't ridden or heard that much about so I didn't know what to expect. It was only a 25 minute drive away. When I got to the race and got registered and changed and headed out to warm up I was pleasantly surprised.

The only section I was able to pre-ride was the singletrack section which was about a mile long with a few other sections adding to it to make the course about 1.5 miles of singletrack on the 3.6 mile course. The rest of the course was a mix of gravel and pasture. The singletrack sections though were some of the funnest I've ridden this year. The track wound up and down through a dried creek bed and was technical and had great flow to it with lots of small power climbs.

When the flag was dropped I took off to the front right away. They started us on a uphill gravel climb and I was able to gap the field with 2 other riders. 1 of them was riding as a team (the only team) so I let him stay in front for a while. After we got out into the open I passed the team rider and went ahead to finish the lap on my own. I was pushing the pace pretty well and surprised everyone when I finished the first lap right at 20 minutes but the second place rider wasn't to far behind and there was a little confusion in the transition area and the second place rider got out in front of me but I caught up with him and stuck on his wheel through the singletrack section and passed him on the open area.

As the race went on I continued to gap the second place rider. The only other riders I saw for most of the race was the 2 guys that were teamed up. I was trying to keep up with them but they did get away from me but I stayed strong for the rest of the race and was able to get in 9 laps and got the win.

I was really glad that I did this race and was able to finish up my mountain bike season on a high note and I felt pretty strong for the whole race which surprised me. I did notice though that after about the 1.5 hour mark that my lap times started to get slightly longer but I still felt like I could have kept the pace up for a while longer after the race was over which made me feel good.


Today

Omaha Cyclocross Weekend #2

Today I decided to head up to Omaha and race the Cross race just to get the practice in. I came into this race with no expectations. I wasn't sure how I would feel after yesterdays race but I figured the best way to break in the new bike and get some practice would be just to race. I got out and warmed up a bit and the legs didn't feel to bad after a bit.

We got lined up and I stayed in the second row not knowing how I'd do. When the gun went off I got right up into the 5th spot and kind of just sat back for a second to get a feel for how things were going to go plus I kept mishifting cause I'm still not used to using the Shimano shifting system vs the SRAM that I run on my road bike (when I get the money the road bike is getting upgraded to Sram red and the rival is going onto the cross bike) after I got everthing squared away I decided to I was feeling ok so I moved around a few people and worked my way into the 3rd spot and went ahead throughout the course. I was surprised at how well I was getting off and on the bike in the barrier and sandy sections of the course.


On the last long open section of the course I decided I was feeling pretty good by know and I made my move to the front and gave it a go to see if I could gap the field a bit. I felt that the other riders in front of me were slowing me down in the corners and I like being by myself. I was able to get a good gap on the rest of the field and was able to work my way through the course and continue to increase my lead and finish the race for the win.

All in all I was pretty happy with how this weekend went. Hopefully things stay the same. Later.

Harp


5 comments:

Ryan said...

Congrats man!

Cornbread said...

Great job this weekend! Two days, two wins. Wicked!

Bluenoser said...

Awesome...

-B

Judi said...

damn you on your 1st race!! awesome!

Mr. Nebraska Outdoor Addict said...

Way to go!!!