Gary and I headed up to Big Bear for US Cup #5. Weather report had predicted temps's in the low 40's for the morning, thankfully that did not materialize and we showed up to absolutely perfect conditions on our arrival.
We did a long-ish pre-ride (~ 6 miles) that would later come in handy for the race. We headed back to the car for last minute prep and then off to the start line. Big Bear is a unique course and a little hard to explain or understand unless you have done it.......I'll try though :)
The registration is at a Mexican Restaurant a few miles away from the start, and the finish is somewhere else entirely. It is a big loop with three lengths, and you turn off the main loop to go back depending on the course you are assigned (short, medium, long), so all racers wind up riding together for the start and finish. Then it is back to the restaurant for beer, taco's, awards, and smack talking!
We got ready and before we knew it was go time. They lumped three cat's together for my start so it was something like 60 people (at least) taking off at the same time, a little chaotic. Right away I could tell the air was thin. Since you start essentially at the ski area and only go up the altitude plays a big role in this race. My heart rate felt 10 BPM faster than it read, I think other people experienced the same thing. It is painful!!
Painful would be the one word description for this race. Right from the start it climbs and then continues relentlessly. There are some short down sections but overall the course seems to defy physics, an infinitely ascending Escher staircase that is more up than down. This one favors the roadies in the crowd for sure!
My race went OK, but not ideal. I had some guy stop right in front of me on one of the ST's, almost crashed into him when he decided he didn't want to ride through a puddle and came slamming to a stop instead. With a lot of different classes on the course at the same time it is a roll of the dice who winds up in front of you and how easy it is to pass them, I think I lost the roll a couple times. :))
Although painful it went by pretty quickly and the finish line was a welcome site. But where was Gary?? He was doing the short course and should be here, did he crash or have a mechanical???
Haha, turns out his Cat did the medium course!! I think this is the first time his and my cat did the same exact course length ...go Gary! The Cat1/Pro course was longer still, ouch!
Gary came in 3rd in his cat (nice!), I wound up in 10th in mine. Tim Z (Sho-Air MTB captain) came in 1st in his cat (Cat 1), wow!! What is funny is we are all in the 45-49 cat, Gary Cat3, me Cat2, Tim Cat1.
My cat is tougher than last year for sure, I had almost exactly the same time as this year and came in 4th at 2:23 behind #1 Alex Teno last year. This year I came in 10th at 9:15 behind #1 Greg Turner, he had the fastest time overall of all Cat2! Guess I better step it up!!!! :))
OK, picture time!!
Heading up to Big Bear, nice day or what??
Pre-Ride, FYI, I was cutoff hard here by another rider during the race and had to go straight through the cones to avoid crashing !
Pre-ride - this is the last down, we rode down and came back up. You can kinda see the trail snake down to the left.
Pre-ride, fun log roller, part of the course.
Riders starting to gather at the start.
Timmy Z came in #1!! (Alex Teno on the left, he was in my cat last year, dude is fast)
Gary is #3!! (dear god, someone tell that guy to put on some shorts! :)
Bringin' home the hardware, sweet!!!
results:
garmin stats (I accidently stopped it for the last mile or so taking a split time, doh!):
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