The schedule for this race was a little different than the others. Cat 2 and 3 went first together, and then Cat 1. This meant my start time was going to be 11:07 and there would be more folks on course than normal.
I got there just after 8am, so I could get a pre-ride in which really helped and hurt. On my pre-ride, I quickly scoped out the start to see if there were any issues or better lines. Nothing seemed to be of concern, so I moved on. On the first major down, I had to do this over a few times to really find my line. I also scoped out a few other lines that would also work just in case I needed them during the race. The next obstacle was a small rock garden with a slight uphill section. I could not find a good line, so I felt the fastest way through was to dismount and run it. If you have not picked up on my complete lack of technical mountain biking skills, I have none and this course was not friendly to roadies. There was this short downhill section and a rock at the bottom. The plan was to slide down the dirt and right onto the rock and over. That was the plan, which is not what happened. As I was going down, I kept my speed so slow that I had no momentum going into the rock section. I hit the rock and was on the ground before I knew it. I was now really concerned on what I would do during the race since I would lose so much time if I had to dismount.
I warmed up for about 30 minutes before the 10:30 line up time. The worst part of the race is waiting for your turn. It was a long wait, but we were off on schedule. My plan was to try and get up front right away but not kill myself doing so since we had 3 laps of 800' gain on each one. I was successful in getting to the lead group as we started before the first ST section. The front rider started pulling away a little on the down, but still within reach. We went into a fire road with a slight up were I passed as many as I could. I saw a lot of riders in other age groups and could not tell were my completion was anymore. From that point on, I just charged it as hard as I could and passed who ever I could.
On the first down section, my practice really paid off. I saw folks walking this section and others off to the side. The next tricky section was the rock garden with the slight up. As I approached, I saw a backup of riders walking over this section. Got past this and feared the next section. Got to the downhill with the rock at the bottom and just manned up and went for it. I flew down and my bike bottomed out the front shock, but went right over it. Now it was just powering through the rest of the course. There were some short steep hills towards the end which I knew were going to be more and more difficult with each lap. More on this later.
I finished the first lap and was happy to have that past me. I grab a cup of water and pored it over my head. I also managed to get a drink before starting my second lap in. My second lap felt a little slower than my first, so knew I was going to really have to turn it on for the last lap. As I was finishing my second lap, I reached down to get a drink and discovered I lost my water bottle. Not how you want to start your last lap. Grabbed a cup of water from the gal handing them out and knew this was all I was getting until the end. Never saw anyone from my group through most of my third lap until the very end. I looked back to see if anyone in my group was approaching. Nothing, so I caught up to the rider and hung out for a few seconds to catch my breath before passing. I wanted to make sure to have a lot just in case he challenged and we were at the bottom of the final climb. Just as I was about to go around the rider in front of me, he stands and immediately starts to cramp. This caused him to come to a stop. I almost ran him over, but was able to go hard left to avoid him. Bounced off another rider and was back to charging ahead. There were a few riders in front of me before the finish that I used as the carrot and chased them down. I caught one of them, but not the other one. Neither of them were in my group so it did not really matter.
After the race, hung out with the 1st and 4th place riders. Overall a good day and fun course. The 3rd place finish has to be qualified. I am racing Cat 3 which is total beginner, so nothing compared to what PV is doing. I did find out later that the 5th place guy, the one who was cramping, went out of bounds and around the rock garden which is how he stayed ahead of the group for the first two laps.
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