Nats

Mountain Bike Nationals 2017, Snowshoe West Virginia.  We were there.  But I almost wasn't in the race.

The first section I walked

After we  arrived Monday evening Blake and I unloaded the bikes and headed out for a sight in lap.  Somehow we got separated and I ended up by myself.  He had ridden this exact same course in the snow back in October and had repeatedly assured me it was "not as hard as Red Bug".  And like a fool I believed him.

After a fun downhill and a steep short climb I hit the "Fingers" section (see above).  I was okay until it started going downhill and got slick.  Off the bike I came and started walking.

Some more steep climbs and a tricky off camber brought me to the uphill rock section.  This put me off the bike again and really knocked the wind out of my sails.  I was hungry, tired from the drive, and more than a little aggravated.  When I finally made it back to the condo I was convinced I had ruined my vacation.  There was no way I was gonna race that on Thursday.  Blake said we would do another lap tomorrow and he'd try to talk me off the ledge I'd crawled out on.

The second section I walked

Tuesday and Things Start to Look Better

Funny how roles reverse themselves.  Blake talked me through every section and I gained a big dose of confidence.  I didn't clean all of it but I realized I could manage it.  Then about 2 in the afternoon a thunderstorm hit the mountain and the small amount of confidence I had gained started to slip away.

The approach to the uphill rock section

Wednesday, the Day Before the Race

Fortunately amature practice was scheduled for late in the day so some of the water had time to run off.  Still, the Fingers section was like a greased downhill, I managed to ride it but it wasn't pretty.  The rock section was much more slippery and forced me off quicker than it had the day before.  I struggled to maintain a good attitude.

Race Day

I finally got my head right (or as right as my head can get) and decided to just have a good time.  After all, I was at nationals and riding in the mountains.  Even though I had a front row call up I lined up in the back of the 15 rider field and just rode to finish.

Not only was I out done skill wise, these guys were strong.  It did give me hope when 15 60-64 year olds can go that hard.  I got 13th and was glad to finish.  It was like nothing I had ever ridden.

You can't even tell this is a hill

I was able to hang with a small group until the last of 3 laps when I slipped down in the dreaded Fingers section.  I managed to follow that up with another small crash in the uphill rock garden. 

Anyhoo , I got beat pretty bad.  My season of racing base class distances didn't help prepare me for sport class times in this race.  We don't have anything that even remotely resembles this type of terrain around here, nor did we face something like this in either the SERC or GSC.  The longest off road climb I train on is not even 1/3 the length of one of the climbs on this track.  In the end I am glad I went and very glad I lined up to race.  Snowshoe is a neat resort and we all enjoyed the week there.  Blake ended up outside the top 10 in his class.  He did make the USAC highlight reel on Instagram with his rock garden endo.  Watching the pros race was a lesson in smooth.

After my race I said I wasn't coming back next year.  Just a couple of days later I was considering riding it again.  

THE CRASH is still in the back of my mind.  I unclip before I really need to in technical terrain.  In fact I do it without thinking about it, even though I'm telling myself not to.  I know I need to practice skills if I'm going to do these types of races.  On the upside there are a lot of guys (and girls) my age or older who are doing the work and are able to compete at this level, so there is room for improvement.

Whats Next?

So, the 2018 GSC/SERC schedule is out.  Should I enter the 50+ sport to build my skills or defend the 60+ championship?  I plan to race 3 rounds of the FSC starting with Tallahassee in September.  I'll enter the 60+ there since those guys schooled me last year.  

I haven't ridden the MTB since I got back.  Just can't get into it in this heat.  I'll give it another couple of days then start back on a base type plan.  I have a lot of work to do.