T Man and I raced the Draper Intermountain Cup today. It was hard. I know that sounds unusual for a mountain bike race, but what can I say. The course was one long climb and then a long single track descent with some rollers thrown in for good measure. The bottom half of the descent was near the Draper Temple and in the million dollar homes and South Mountain Golf Course. I never worried about getting hit by a golf ball on a mountain bike before. It was kind of strange ripping down a grassy alley between big house. However, it was really nice to race close to home and to have a big turnout.
First Tanner. He's been working on his climbing and rode really strong up the big hill. His group did one big lap (10 miles with 1500 feet of verticle) and one small lap (about a mile or so). He was in 3rd or 4th at the top of the climb, but close to the leaders. Unfortunately, he had a few issues on the descent and hit the dirt 3 times. He wasn't hurt too bad and finished in 8th place. I'm proud of his efforts, but I've failed him in the descending department. We have practice planned this week.
I finally felt physically good today. My group did 3 big laps for a LONG race with lots of up. Glen Adams came, so we were all racing for 2nd. I hung with Glen and Dana for 1/2 of the first climb, but had to back off a little. I was about 30 seconds down at the top. Glen dropped Dana and I was working hard to get to Dana. Unfortunately, on the single track descent on the 2nd lap, I flatted. I didn't exactly have the fastest tube change in the world and got passed by a lot of guys as I floundered with my wheel. I rode hard once I got going again and passed everyone in my group other than Glen and Dana by the start of the 3rd lap. I didn't know if anyone else was a head of me in my group, so it was go hard the rest of the way. In the end, I'm not sure I would have gotten Dana for 2nd without the flat, so 3rd with a flat isn't too bad. My race time was something like 2 hours 47 minutes, so it was a spanker.
I rode a friend's hardtail for this race. I've been toying with the idea of putting together a light HT for racing. After today, I'm not sure. The bike was really good on the climbs and fast on the descents. Where I struggled was on the relatively flat, bumpy sections. I just couldn't get going. I think I went just about as fast as I do on the Epic going downhill. However, the ride is MUCH rougher. On the 3rd lap, I felt very beat-up and I'm much more sore in my shoulders, arms and back than normal. On some courses, a HT would be the way to go. However, on most of what we race, FS is the call.
Happy Memorial Day,
Daren
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