Okay, so its been a while since this race... Here's what I remember...
I was feeling a little heavy and slow still since it was early in the season, and got my usual spanking at Hop Brook and Winding Trails... (I think). My boys had soccer games so I had no fan family to cheer. I had a Rad and Gnar jersey and felt a little foolish since it fit too tight, and I was the only one from the team in CAT 3 from that team. We hadn't proven ourselves yet, and I felt like I stuck out with the Ghandi Bot on the back so close to the brewery that had no idea we were such fans of the product...
It felt like home turf though as I drove up from the SCSU area... This is the place where I learned to MTB... I remember riding up West Rock then down some gnar on the front before class some days. I'd go to class stinking of mud and sweat and sit in the back.
I showed up a little early at the nature center to get the lay of the land. There was a bald guy in the parking lot who looked really fit and started giving me pointers on how to race this course. I think it had rained the night before, so it was slick. The mountain is loose and trap rocky like the boneyard, with more vertical. Saw Guy D. of Amity bike registering and Fabien yelling at his sons to get out of the car and stop playing video games, like I often do to my own kids... I don't think I knew too many people at this point at this race. Registration was down being a new course, or not a roadie course, so I was a little disappointed, thinking that I'd do really well if this race was as gnarly as advertised and wanted to beat a lot of people if possible, rather than a handful in my class... The road start was very deceptive as we line up sparsely for Cat 3. There was this guy with stuffed animals on his bike and a Giro switchblade. I later realized that it was StuntMonkey from around the forums. But not until much later....
Jill prepped us and Chris started us off as usual... Then it was a blur. We climbed up the first switchback on the hill, and I somewhat took my time. We cut left into the trail, and I lost track of who was in which class and age group, so I just pedalled through the soupy muddy trail. There were a couple of streams and it seemed like a lot of the riders were getting hung up. Some tried to run with their bike,s but this type of sharp loose rocky chunder makes it better to stay on the bike because running is just as slow over moving baby heads....
We crossed the road, I passed a couple of guys on the short up and there was the first small dowhnhill... This is where I poured it on, but it was loose and muddy. Then a long technical climb leading over route 15 and a carry up and over the guard rail onto Wintergreen drive. I followed the bald guy up the road and he gained some time on me, I think somebody a class younger than me passed me here. I always die on road climbs. Then we hit some track to the first water tower, and I passed the bald guy. It was probably temporary I thought. I was hurting. But then it started to dip downward toward lake Wintergreen. It was all slick and baby heads, just the way I like it. I saw some lines and hammered through just the right angles. Mike Gluz was there, I remember and cheered as I passed. I passed some more guys and came out onto some sloppy single track that seemed to go on forever. I passed two older guys on this and felt like I was hammering, but when it smoothed out or there was a climb the two older guys would show up and pass me. Then streams and rocks, I'd pass them... Then smooth and up and they'd pass me. Eventually, we came out on a long double track leading back towards lake Wintergreen. I put one guy away on this. But I could not catch the other guy... I would not loose him either, at one point I think we were spinning in the high 20 mphs and a stick caught my front spokes, it split and shot about 50 yards ahead toward the fast older guy. We came out at the top of the dam, he was a few seconds ahead, but he stopped when he saw that we had to Roller the front of the dam about 200 feet straight down.... Wee!. Okay now I put this guy so far behind me I was ready to kill into the finish... But then there was a climb on the other side back up to Lake Wintergreen Drive and I faded. He passed me there, damn. I could not lose him. I passed another guy in my cat trying to catch him, and we sailed into the finish about 40 seconds apart. I know he wasn't my direct competition, but that is what racing is all about. It turns out there was another guy behind me that kept catching and losing me, but never came close enough to pass. I was his competition and never knew he was there....
So now all that is left is the road dh to the finish. I ripped it and later found out I came in second... I went back to the nature center and waited around for the medals. There was this girl washing her bike and she did a half assed job, considering it was such a nice bike. In my CAT 3 race knowitallness I told her she should do a better job when she got home she said "I... oh never mind".... It wasn't until I saw her line up with the pros that I realized she had raced the cat 3 lap as practice. It was Crystal Anthony who was a super fast pro, and I was telling her what to to with her bike, like a big stupid knowitall.... lol. Anyway, I got the state championship 2nd place medal a bag of cat 3 prizes which included the free lube that they were giving everyone anyway etc. And the 2nd place rt 66 medal which I didn't have. The only sore spot was the guy that soundly beat me for first was a Cannondale employee and raced Cat 2 30-39 the week before at Winding Trails... This was Cat 3 40-49, but I guess he just turned 40 so was allowed in. He was confused the Jill said. If it had been close I would have been mad, but he beat me soundly whether he belonged in cat 3 40-49 or not. So I was happy with 2nd. I was hoping I'd have another chance at him later in the season, but it never came to pass.
I ended up seeing JB4 and Katie the King and Queen of Rad and Gnar racing, and they were up next in the CAT 2 race that they soundly demolished. I also saw Zac Hawk there with his dad, and watched him start the single speed... He dropped out of root 66 racing shortly thereafter in favor of jumps etc. But he's still a great rider.
Anyway, this race replaced The Wrath of the Boneyard, which I was sorely disappointed, (and came in first in the rain last year), was cancelled... But if any course could replace that one, this was it! Awesome day. Awesome race. Two medals and a bag of bike stuff to boot! I stopped for a growler of Ghandi Bot at New England Brewery on my way home, but the line was too long, so I settled for a six of Sea Hags and went home to cut the lawn instead.
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