Greenville Mountain Bike Short Track Race #1

Two race reports in one week, INSANITY!!

I pre-rode the course out at the Riverside Equestrian Park this past Tuesday and going away from the ride I wasn’t particularly excited about racing on Thursday.

Well come Thursday, I decided at the last minute if I didn’t change the gear (34X21) up on the singlespeed I was in for an embarrassing showing. So I frantically swapped gears to a 34X16 much more appropriate for the flat course with one extended hill in .8 miles.

Race Format:

Circle the .8 mile loop as many times as you can in 30 minutes. The race officials will call out your last lap to end your suffering. Until that time, pedal as hard as you can and try not to crash.

I hate getting behind people in double track corners on the first lap so I decided I would gun it as hard as I could to maintain a decent position into the first few dirt turns. We had a large group that consisted of all male and female racers besides expert and pros. They are in the second race.

I was third into the double track and could already see that the two fellows in front of me couldn’t carry the speed I wanted coming out of the corners but it was too dangerous to pass with everyone anaerobic but I sure as hell still thought about it.

Out of the woods and people started rolling past me pretty quickly. That would be the theme of the day for the rest of my laps. I felt good but not excellent. Each lap when I came back to the double track I would try and make sure I passed anyone in front of me as I was floating the corners pretty well. Somewhere in the middle of my race I entered the corners with a fellow in front of me and luckily I gave him some room because into the second corner he went down hard, flatted and was tangled in the bike. Luckily I was looking up and pulled a front-wheelie stop just before slicing through him and his bike. I had been trying to hold onto Mike’s wheel as he was also SS and passed me the previous lap but now he was gone. I was passed by a few more riders as I jumped back on the bike making sure the crashed dude wasn’t hurt.

When last lap was called I put my head down and tried to hammer it out for a good finish. I am looking forward to the next 3 races, its going to be fun to see if we can improve as the temps rise throughout the summer. If you didn’t come out, you missed some good fun.

Thanks to Jeff, Carolina Tri, Industry Nine, Community Tap and all the volunteers including my lovely wife and daughter for making this happen. Can’t beat a race that is 10 minutes from the house!!