The Dog

So my mind was pretty set on just riding the beginner course at Laurel with my mom. Until last night at 8:00 when I figured that I was healthy enough to race. We drove up and I got ready as usual, but when I was about to start warming up, my dad rode by and told me that Gunnar had just pulled into the parking lot. Big suprize. So it ended up being Gunnar, Julian, and me at the start.

At the last second, I kinda dozed off and the gun sounded, catching me by suprize. Before I knew it, everyone was around the turn and I was weaving in and out of riders to catch up. I rode with Gunnar and Julian until the first steep uphill section, where I pulled away. 29ers go fast on fireroads, so I wanted to give myself a little advantage. It worked out pretty good and I had a big lead on both of them, until it started getting flat again. Every flat spot, Julian got closer, until he finally passed me. The same with Gunnar, and I got behind his wheel going into the singletrack. It continued very steep uphill for a while, where I rode behind Gunnar and got a little rest. Once we got to the top, I shifted first into the middle, then worked through the cassete until I was in the biggest chainring. I didn't look back, thinking I would be dissapointed with what I would see. "The Dog" is the name given to the big chainring by Craig Gordon, the 2006 24 hour solo world champion. I ended up using that ring a lot of the race. So anyway, I was flying on this gradual downhill section and before I knew it, the trail dropped off the side of the mountain onto the Stinger trail. It's so steep that once you start down it, you're not slowing down. I started down it too fast and ended up passing 3 people. At the bottom, you flew out onto a fire road, and I looked back. Still no Gunnar, but Julian was just ahead. Seriously, this is the exact same thing that happened to me last year with Gunnar. I rode hard, but Julian just rode faster and had dropped me by the time we got to the Dear trail, the second technical descent. Bombed down that and across the road.

After the road, there is a little ditch where a spring crosses the trail. I don't know how big it is, but it's deep and not many people try to jump across it. By the time I saw it, it was too late and I knew that I had to try and clear it. As I was in the air, I looked down and saw this awful knob on the other side. I was just hoping to clear it, and I did. Barely. Through a few streams and you're off to the 3rd big climb of the race. Again, I had closed the gap on Julian, but couldn't catch him. Just kept pulling away from me. On the last downhill, my Garmin registered at 31.2 mph. It's fast, but only if you're really pinning it. I crossed the finish 2nd overall, less than a minute behind Julian. Julian got a time of 1:52, I had a 1:53, and I'm not sure what Gunnar's time was but I'm sure that he broke 2 hours. It was a fun race, and I like the course conditions - slippery and foggy and wet and muddy.

Oh and I also have my first week of school behind me...

btw Gunnar, that Hammer gel flask that you saw without the top, it was mine. we figured that out when all I had left in my pocket was the cap ;-p