Roadie makes good on dirt

I did my first mountain bike race of the year yesterday at finale of Winter Park's summer series on the 25 mile Tipperary Creek point to point course.

Mountain bike racers are separated into categories based on skill/experience: Beginner, Sport, Expert, and Pro. I don't mountain bike much (maybe 6 times this year) and I've only done a couple mountain bike races before so I decided to enter as a beginner. I'm relatively fit, but I have little to no mountain bike skills and I was worried about getting in people's way if I raced in the sport class.

The race starts out on a wide dirt road for a few miles before getting to a long single track climb. Shortly after the start I was sitting third wheel enjoying the draft (a rarity on a mountain bike where the speeds rarely make it worth while). The front guy peeled off and the second guy almost immediately sprinted up the road. I let him go a little bit, but then decided to reel him in and caught him right before the single track. He looked back, saw that I had dropped the rest of the field, and said "Let's work together." Ha! In a mountain bike race? I dropped him on the climb.

My game plan throughout the race was to gain as much time as possible on the climbs because I'm a pretty timid descender. I was hoping that I would blow up the other riders on the climbs and that they would have to take risks on the descent to catch me. The first ascent went according to plan. I was constantly passing people from the other race groups, but more importantly I was putting time between me and my competition.

I was taking it easy after the first major descent and I kind of forgot that I was trying to race. I eased up for a bit and made a bit of a mess as I tried to eat a gel pack. Around that time, someone from my group passed me. That woke me up a bit and I was able to stick with him and drop him again on the next climb. I never saw him again.

There was really only one somewhat technical section. I clipped my bar and took a spill at the beginning of it and ended up walking most of the rest of it. That was a bummer because the section wasn't that technical, and I know I could have ridden it if I hadn't lost my momentum.

Any time I felt like easing up, I just had to think about someone else in my group nipping at my heels and catching me on the finish line. There were a couple people near the end of the course that passed me, and I wasn't sure whether or not they were in my group. When I checked the results after I finished.....I won! Cool. I've never won a race. Next time I'll be racing sport class for sure.