Tales From the Front of the Pack
So I don't know what happened with my last post but I can't see it... if you can please tell me so I don't repost it. Anymahoo... April 13th marked the opening XC race for the Mid Atlantic Super Series, the premier mountain bike series in the Mid Atlantic Region. The race was organized by the local Bike Line team and held at the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in Elkton, Maryland. Fair Hill has an extensive network (50+ miles) of well-maintained, mountain bike friendly singletrack which makes the most of the rolling northern Maryland terrain. The course was 7.5 miles long and mostly singletrack. Judging from my previous riding at Fair Hill I knew it was going to be a fast race.
I lined up with the Sport Senior 1 (age 19-29) class for my first XC race of the season. The start took us up a short gravel road then down a fast fire road, across a stream, and into the singletrack. At the bell our group sped off up the course and I found myself in the lead group. At the top of the rode a rider from C3-Sollay broke off down the dirt road and never looked back. I hit the singletrack with a group of about six riders, with the leader about ten seconds ahead of me. Eventually I took charge of the pack and got a little gap, trying to minimize the damage done by the leader in hopes of a second lap attack. Halfway through the lap the rest of the group reeled me in. During the second lap a Shirks rider appeared out of no where and broke free from our group to try and catch the leader. The group of four I was riding with split up, and I drifted into 5th place, spent from my hard effort the previous lap. I attacked when the guy following me bobbled the one technical section of course and held a small gap for the rest of the race to finish 5th. I am happy with this effort as I am in the process of preparing for my larger goals this season: the MASS Endurance Series, the Wilderness 101, and the Shenandoah 100.
All in all, I had a good race. The course was fast as predicted; I finished the 15 mile race in 1:04:58. My bike worked great, which was a blessing. My next race will be the Greenbrier AMBC race and Nationals Qualifier on 4/27.
Pictures are up now... but I want to change my profile pic but forget how to. Anyone want to drop me a line here??????????