Pocohantas State Park Mountain Bike Race

Racing at Pocohantas. which is my home trail system, is something I have never been able to do.  I missed the race last year, and the only other race has been a duatholon.  The duatholon was fun, but not a true mountain bike race.  After some heavy rain in the week leading up to the race, we were fortunate to have perfect weather and excellent trail conditions on race day.  Huge thanks to the Friends of Pocohantas group for maintaining these trails. Support this group!

In the middle of the week Joe Fish threw out the idea of riding from his house to the race, then riding for a few hours after the race as well.  This seemed like a good idea, so I followed suit.  I was concerned I would get a bit of a chill on the ride to the race but didn't want to wear to many layers with near 70* temperatures expected at the race start.  I threw on some extra wind protection and arm warmers and hoped that would be enough to keep me warm for the 8 mile trek to the park.  Hard to believe it would warm up by 25* in the 90 minutes till the race started.  Needless to say, the pace of the post race ride was pretty mellow.

I was greeted by what seemed like a ton of mountain bikers as made my way through the park to the area where the race would start.  It was nice to be racing on trails that I am so familiar with heck, I even built some of these trails  I was even able to spin a loop the prior day so I knew exactly what to expect. The only varialbe was the bike I would be racing.  Endorphin Fitness just finished building my Scott Spark on Friday, so this would be my first race on this bike but also my first race on a full suspension bike.

Before I knew it, we were lining up at the start line.  The Pro/Expert field was small, but pretty stacked with some quality riders including Dylan Johnson, Matt Bailey, and of course Joe Fish. I lined up on the second row behind Matt figuring he would be a good wheel to follow.  The race was pretty frantic from the start.  This race has about a mile of fire road before entering the forest which seemed to go by in blur. I found myself in 3rd nearing the trail entrance which I felt good about although I knew it would be a battle to maintain it. About halfway through the first loop I made a pass leaving only Dylan out in front.  Bailey had gotten a bad start and I knew he would be pushing hard to join the leaders.  He passed me soon after and looked very strong.  I maintained my 6-8 second gap to the now leading group of two for most of the first lap, but eventually lost sight of them.

Nearing the end of the first lap, I had some drivetrain issues and couldn't get my bike into the big ring.  Frustrated, I stopped and manually put it in the big ring.  I was feeling strong and hoping to jump back on with the leaders during the second loop, but this small mechanical seemed to dash all hopes of catching them.  I continued to push hard with hopes that one of them would pop, but this never happened.  The 4th and 5th place riders eventually got close enough to me that I could see them on some of the longer switchbacks.  I was able to stay away and take a third overall, my best finish in my second XC race as an "Expert" racer. 

Other then the drivetrain issue, the Scott Spark performed perfectly.  What an excellent bike!  It was great being able to lock out the front and rear and really hammer on the fire road sections.  The bike inspired tons of confidence in railing the turns as well.  Huge thanks to EF for putting in some overtime last week to assemble this bike for me.  Two of the top three riders at this race were on a Spark, I guess it was the perfect bike for the course.

The team had some great results:

Sonya- 3rd Cat 2
Tom R.- 2nd Masters
Frank Y.- 1st Cat 2
Jeff P.- 1st Cat 2 35+
David R.- 1st Cat 1 35+
Joe F.- 4th Cat 1

Full results can be found here: RunRideRace

Sorry, light on pictures for this race.  I will add a few more this evening.



Mark giving directions to the Pro/Expert field



Frank getting ready to lay it down!

Plassman, daydreaming of another deer encounter

Damon and Dave, ready to roll



How did Damon change so fast??



Monster Cross!

Some of the Design Physics squad geared up and took to Pocahontas State Park for the inaugural Monster Cross race this past Sunday. David Reid and myself rolled up in style on our bikes to intimidate the competition. This strategy had no effect whatsoever on our opponents but the chilly ride loosened up the legs a bit and got them ready for a long day in the saddle.

Once the race promoters figured out how to get 400 people organized in the starting area the race started. The start was a bit chaotic with lots of riders making their bid for the lead group. I'm not sure even the motorcycle rider leading us out knew where we were going.

Eventually we all found our way to the race course without any major incidents. The group contained some familiar faces and some unknown to me. It was encouraging to have an ally, David, in the group with me. I struggled early finding a smooth line to follow on the cross bike, kudos to the Giant's wheel, tire and tire pressure setup because I nailed some rocks, roots and even a stump while following mostly mountain bikers who just floated over any obstructions.

The main group single filed the new bridge crossing over the creek when the first major attack happened. The pace up the following climb was blistering, so much so I even had to feather the brakes around what would normally be just a slight bend on the climb. By the time the pace dropped back off I looked back and no one was there, like really no one. This is were my ally David and I parted ways. But wait who's that, it's Greg Wittwer! It's on now!

The race was super fun after that. I don't believe anyone even noticed me in the group of 12-15 and I just hung back for awhile. By around the half way point the attacks came and came hard. Most attacks came with questionable tactics from the Harley team duo. One rider would get to the front to pace then block while the other attacked. This is were I made my presence known and personally reeled in most attacks. While this all happened the group thinned out. Eventually my new found ally, Greg, disappeared.

The group now containing 7 riders blazed into the second and final lap. Both Harley team riders had tire issues shortly into the final lap and disappeared. This made me happy, it also left me alone with 4 (very fast!) mountain bikers. These four I knew all to well. But wait, who's that? It's Greg Wittwer back again! Greg, without a moments rest, attacks again. Once we reel him back I think he was ready to sit back for a while. Around this time the 6 of us got organized and formed a pretty efficient pace line to reel in the solo leader. Funny thing is I never even knew there was a solo leader 'til then. After all the attacks and pace changes I was not surprised someone could stay away, but the way we were going now he wouldn't stand much of a chance, would he?

After dropping Greg again the group continued on. We received time gaps from people along the course, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 1/2 minutes.... We were catching him, but was it fast enough? Well, I wouldn't be there to find out as I was unable to keep their wheels with less than 5 miles to the finish. The newly added rooty field section on the course was my demise. I had to take a different line than the mtb's due to roots, in addition, I got hit with a nasty head wind and could not get back on their wheels. By that time the pace was flat out, short and hard pulls by all. Slowly the group disappeared and I made my way to the finish lonely with thoughts of what could've been.

Great race!