Hilbert #3... It's a HOT one!

Ahhh… Hilbert #3. It’s the point of the year where you sadly realize that mountain biking season is a little over the half way point. It’s also the point of the year where you look at the weather online and sulk at the 99 degree days forecasted with 90% humidity and heat indices of 105+ as was the case with this race.

Packing up the truck that morning didn’t seem so bad. I was actually thinking it was a pretty good day for a race. That is until I got to the race site. Driving to Hilbert, I had the AC blasting like everyone else and was pretty excited to be out there. When I arrive and open my door to get out, everything in my car almost immediately starts to build condensation. That’s when I realize it’s just going to be a miserable day on course… Riding enduro races is always a tough test. Even tougher when conditions are this extreme and it’s only your third time doing it. I was just hoping I was ready mentally for this as I was physically.

It was a pretty thin field as it is usually by this point in the year when there are multiple outdoor events going on the same day. Lining up at the start I see a lot of the usual faces and a few new, like Mason Hopkins, daughter of fearless leader Jason Hopkins and Adam Croft. A kid who at 11 years old can beat the pants off the majority off adults who enter these races, an always humbling experience.

I started the race with a pretty relaxed pace, settling in behind some of the slower riders. Once I felt more warmed up, I politely passed them and began to settle in a pretty decent grove pulling about 40 minute laps. Throughout the race I found that I had to force myself to hydrate because it was so hot and humid outside. As the race went on I began noticing more and more people begin to fizzle out, most likely from not hydrating in the extreme heat. 4 hours and 5 minutes later I finished up my 6^th lap. At that point I had to decide if I had enough for a 7^th lap. Considering that I was feeling somewhat nauseous during my 6^th lap, I decided to call it at that point. I was pretty proud of myself considering the conditions of the race.

All in all, the team did pretty well! David Reid wrapped up another enduro win, pulling 9 laps in 4 hours and 37 minutes. Big Leeg took 5^th place with 7 laps. Jeff took the overall win in Sport Men with Jim in a close 2^nd overall. Dave Ezzell took 5^th in class and Nolan Felts took 4^th in class. I took 7^th place enduro with the 6 laps that rolled out. With those results, the team racked up 510 points in the VORS points series and managed to put a little distance between us and the 3^rd place team. Not too shabby!