Tripleshot Cycling

On Sunday, Katie, Marcy & I headed up island for the Cumberland XC Race. While doing 110 km/h, my bike's forks came loose from the roof rack. The strap on the rear wheel kept the bike on the car, but the roof was dented and the rack was bent. Not a good start to the day, but it did get the heart rate up.

There was a good turnout for the race, over 100 racers. We did a mass start, which is a thrill, but chaotic. We all stayed together on the first short gravel road climb, and it turned into a parade as the race entered the single track. I could see Glenowyn about 5 spots in front of me. We exited the single track and started a long gravel road climb. This climb was starting to separate bunch and I made up several positions. For the rest of the race I traded position with the same 5 or so people. I'd pass them on the climbs, they'd pass me on the descents.

I knew on the last lap I'd have to gain as much distance as I could on the climb to hold them off on the decent. I didn't work, I was caught about 2/3rds of the way down. I backed off the pace a bit knowing there probably wasn't anybody else who could catch me. Less than 1km from the finish I crossed a creek, and then I heard the splash of a rider too close behind me. Somebody had snuck up on me. I turned on the gas, determined not to get passed.

I didn't look back until I was almost at the finish line. I saw that it was Glenowyn catching me, as she was racing in expert, she had another lap to do. After the race she said she wanted to catch me just so I'd have something to write about in my race report.

I finished 15th (again) out of 35.

Race stats: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29866065

The start:


Me:


Katie:


Glenowyn:


Marcy: (On a bike borrowed from Jen which she hadn't ridden until the start of the race)


Results:
http://www.islandcupseries.com/index.ph ... /#more-414

Way to go Easter Eggs! I can only imagine the "feeling" in the car when the bike started coming off - be honest each person was freaking out only caring that it wasnt their bike.....

Plawless wrote:Way to go Easter Eggs! I can only imagine the "feeling" in the car when the bike started coming off - be honest each person was freaking out only caring that it wasnt their bike.....

Let's just say it got my heart rate up. I still can't believe the plastic strap on the rear wheel held the bike. I was fulling expecting to be picking pieces off of the highway.

I was really on the fence about whether I wanted to race on Sunday. My XC(ish) bike is still getting fixed so I was to ride the Slayer again, and with all the talk of the brutal steep & long fire road climbs, I was rather reluctant to enter. I decided I would ride the course, but not worry about racing. The Slayer and I do not combine to create a unified climbing machine, but the Cumberland trails are too much fun to pass up.

I have chosen to forget the fire road climbs altogether. It is for the best. There was no fire road in my race, just fun singletrack and a few confusing parts between the end of one trail and the beginning of the next.

Oh, and the "I'm just going to ride the course" didn't last long either.

My chain remained in one piece this time (hooray!) but my front derailleur wouldn't shift into the big(ish) ring before the start of the race, and then wouldn't shift out of the big(ish) ring once I got going. I had to stop and "tap" it with my fist to get it back in the little chain ring once we started climbing. This put me at the very back of the pack and I spent a long time in stop & go traffic on the first singletrack section. I didn't really care, cause afterall, I was just riding - not racing

Eventually I found my way through the traffic and really started to have fun on the trails. When I realized I could catch & pass a couple of guys ahead of me, the race began! Unfortunately I had spent too much time doddling to be in the running in the finish times.

While the Slayer may not be the most appropriate bike for a climby XC race, it is absolutely the right bike if your goal is to have a blast charging through rolling twisty singletrack with steep descents and lots of roots. This is what I have chosen to remember of the race. That, and the post race BBQ in the park - a great venue and really nice to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

Great trails, great fun, and no nasty fire road climbs at all! What more can you ask for??

http://connect.garmin.com/player/29789925