Kicking Off the 2011 Mountain Bike Season...

I kicked off my 2011 mountain bike season with the 3-hour marathon at the Swanson River City Shootout. It was technically the second race of the Psycowpath series, but it was the first race hosting a marathon class.  And the racers showed up in force.  We had the largest class of the day (barely beating out the cat 2 men), with 27 men and two women taking to the dirt.

Jim Winklepleck is just out of the picture, off the front as we get ready to head into the singletrack on the first lap. Look at my shiny new Giant Anthem X 29-1!  Thanks Cycle Works!!  Photo: Heather Wolff

The race started off fast, with "The Man in Black", Jim Winklepleck, taking off from the line like he was shot from a gun.  I entered the singletrack on Jim's wheel in second place and we comfortably rode at a nice, high tempo for the first lap.  Thanks to Jim's strong riding, we'd forged perhaps a 10 second lead on the rest of the pack after a lap and a half of riding, but I could sense it was time to make a move, so I went to the front and put the power down.  Lucas Marshall was moving up through the field behind us and I knew without a doubt he was my strongest competition on the day.  If I could keep him chasing me, I hoped he'd tire from the effort.

My plan came close to working had it not been for a mouth full of PowerBar Gel Bites.  On lap seven (of eight), I ravenously tore into a pack of gel bites, unfortunately a little too fast and dropped the entire package, so I had to get an entirely new one (my last one), which took me a long time to do.  And when I finally got into the second package, I put the whole thing into my mouth so I didn't have to do it twice.  So I had basically had a big mouth full of gummy bears...  And that's when Lucas caught me -- as I was trying to chew 10 gummies simultaneously, and breathe at the same time while my heart was beating @175BPM.  Yeah... not good. 

Back up-to-speed after my feed debacle... No, I wasn't too happy at this point. Photo: Heather Wolff

So by the time I got all that crap inhaled (thankfully not into my lungs), I was able to get back up to full-speed, but the bummer was by that point, Lucas was at least a minute ahead of me, and we were so evenly matched that I couldn't make it up.  I could ride his speed, but no faster.  It was cool though.  We had a good race.  He earned it, and I know it's just the first of many great races to-come.

I'd like to thank Cycle Works and the Moose's Tooth for their support this season.  My new Giant Anthem X-29 1 worked incredibly well out at Swanson.  You might not think a course like Swanson is rough enough to warrant full suspension, but a quick check of both O-rings on my Giant reveals I was using every millimeter of the suspension travel.  And I enjoyed the benefit of the bike's 100mm of travel on each of the eight laps I completed during the three hour enduro.  Thanks again Team Rasta!!

Cheers,
MG