This past Sunday was the last of the Southern Classic Mountain Bike races of the year. It was also the last bigger races that I would be doing of the year where I could use the result easily to apply for my pro license.
I pre-rode the course after getting there: a lot of climbing in the first 5 minutes (I knew wasn't going to feel real good at race pace), then a number of bermed switch back turns (I struggled with taking them with much speed, and assumed I would lose time through that sections), the last half was much more flowing and fast, while still had some climbing to it.
I had a good start going into the woods in second place, behind fellow BikeSource rider Bobby Bryson. Got passed by by one of the Cannondale-Championsystems racers and by Jason Laxton (our wonderful Specialized rep). They slowly pulled away through the technical areas and then towards the end of the first lap another rider passed me. After that I pretty much rode by myself, with the exceptions of one of the really fast older (40+) Cat 1 riders. I eventually finished 4th (I apparenly passed the Cannondale-Championsystems rider after he had crashed).
It's definitely a course where there is no where to hide. If your fitness or your handling isn't up to par, it will definitely show. And in my case it showed: both my handling and my fitness wasn't great, I couldn't get through the berms fast enough and wasn't fit enough to handle the climbing. After breifly following Jason and Bobby they beat me by 11 and 8 minutes respectively. I felt like I got the most out of the race that I could, but it wasn't a result that was very good.
I pre-rode the course after getting there: a lot of climbing in the first 5 minutes (I knew wasn't going to feel real good at race pace), then a number of bermed switch back turns (I struggled with taking them with much speed, and assumed I would lose time through that sections), the last half was much more flowing and fast, while still had some climbing to it.
I had a good start going into the woods in second place, behind fellow BikeSource rider Bobby Bryson. Got passed by by one of the Cannondale-Championsystems racers and by Jason Laxton (our wonderful Specialized rep). They slowly pulled away through the technical areas and then towards the end of the first lap another rider passed me. After that I pretty much rode by myself, with the exceptions of one of the really fast older (40+) Cat 1 riders. I eventually finished 4th (I apparenly passed the Cannondale-Championsystems rider after he had crashed).
It's definitely a course where there is no where to hide. If your fitness or your handling isn't up to par, it will definitely show. And in my case it showed: both my handling and my fitness wasn't great, I couldn't get through the berms fast enough and wasn't fit enough to handle the climbing. After breifly following Jason and Bobby they beat me by 11 and 8 minutes respectively. I felt like I got the most out of the race that I could, but it wasn't a result that was very good.
No comments:
Post a Comment