Fall Series Waco & Tyler Race Reports 2014

The Cameron Park Blowout in Waco was the 2nd race of the TMBRA (TX MTB Racing Association) Texas Cup. This is the Fall series, a separate series from the state championship series held in the Spring. I hadn't planned on doing this race, but got the itch after I missed the first race of the series at Camp Eagle. We had a party to go to Saturday night so we couldn't go up that morning for a preride. Instead I had a nice 37 mile road/gravel ride with Lindsey & Dan from the Neilson Devo team. It may have been a little more than I should've done but I don't think it hurt me any for Sunday, and it was good to get some time with them for a little fitness coaching and do some work for myself also. We got up early Sunday morning for the drive to Waco, and arrived with about an hour until race time.

I got my number, kitted up, prepared my bike and nutrition, then went out for my warmup. I didn't do a whole lot, just a few hard sprints up some short steep hills. I might should have done more but I will take this lesson with me to the next race. I haven't XC raced or done any hard efforts in so long I wasn't sure exactly what my body needed to get going for it. We hit the start line, and I lined up on the front row. The start was about 200 yds of road, slightly uphill. I hit the singletrack in second, I wanted to try to stay with the leader and see what my fitness would do. I lasted about 14 minutes at his pace, then I blew up pretty good and started dropping places quickly. 6 minutes later I'd gone from 2nd to 7th! I kept pushing and eventually recovered and was able to get into a good groove. About mid-race I started bringing some of the guys back who'd passed me. One of them was a 15yr old named Bradyn racing up into our age group, he latched on my back wheel and stayed with me the rest of the race. We passed a few more guys, then when we got up to 3rd place he jumped in with us too so we were a group of three. He tried to get away late on the third lap, but I was able to stay with him on the twisties where he thought he could get a gap, then I passed him at the base of the finishing climb. I gapped him but Bradyn was able to stay close and was on my wheel at the top for the finish. There was a short section of road, some fast singletrack, then an open field for the finish. I sat up just a little in the woods to prepare for a sprint. I wasn't exactly sure where the line was, so when I came out of the woods I got on the gas and opened the sprint when I saw the timing lights. I was able to keep him behind me to finish 3rd.

This was a good, fun race and it was exciting to be in the mix. It definitely confirmed that I need to do some top end work for the hard efforts of the start and the short fast climbing in XC racing.

One week later was the Tyler Race at Tyler State Park. I was looking forward to this race because it's more my style, dirt singletrack with some good climbs but not quite as hard as at Waco. I had a fun preride with Raine on Saturday, then we hung out at John & Velda's RV that afternoon. We went into town to sleep at the hotel, while the kids got to sleep "in the bus". Unfortunately I didn't get a great night sleep so I was feeling a little tired Sunday morning. The legs felt a bit flat during warmup trying to sprint up some of the steep hills, but I decided to push on.

I had the same plan as before, go into the singletrack in 2nd and see how long I could hang on. Went into the singletrack 2nd behind the 2nd place rider from Waco, Paul. We started to open a bit of a gap on the field. Legs still didn't feel great but they were going ok and I didn't blow up after 14 minutes like last week so I figured I'd keep givin' it. I took the lead when we hit the paved road at mile 4, I didn't want to but the leader sat up so I cruised by him with just a little power on. I held it for a couple of miles but felt like we were going faster when I was chasing so I let him back by. I held his wheel for a little bit, but then he started to stretch it out a little in places. He'd get a gap, then I'd pull it back, repeat. He had about 10 seconds going into the finish climb, but I had been hearing riders behind us for a few minutes though I couldn't tell how close they were. I was gaining on the leader going up the climb, I caught him right near the top, but unfortunately I heard the 2 riders come flying up behind us and we all came together at the finish chute. Paul and one of the chasers took off into the singletrack, I couldn't chase but tried to keep the gap reasonable. The other chaser was the 15yr old I outsprinted for 3rd at Waco, looked like we were setting up for the exact same thing to happen again. The leaders got out of sight so I was focused on Bradyn behind me. I backed it off just a hair, still fast enough to keep him behind me but trying to save a little bit for the last lap. I gapped him a few times on flowy or descending sections, and he said once he stopped to tighten his skewer, but he was always able to bring me back. This was discouraging, but I stuck to the plan. He never tried to pass, despite the instructions and encouragement from his dad to do so, so I felt like I was making him work.

Leading Bradyn, the 15yr old who was on my wheel at every race. Luckily we will not be in the same age group again!

Late in the race I thought he was working harder to stay with me, but I was also starting to hurt. If I couldn't get a gap on him at the base of the climb I'd back off and leave it for the sprint since that had worked before. It didn't come down to that though, somewhere in those last few ups and downs before the big climb I got a gap on him and he didn't seem to be closing it. I decided this was the time to go, so I turned it up to what I thought I could hold to the finish. My legs were close to cramping when I hit it hard at the base of the last climb so I had to dial it back just a little bit but overall it worked, I was able to open up a 1:10 gap before the finish to take 3rd again. Paul took the win, I'm not sure who the second place rider was other than a cat. 2 roadie guy. Turns out I was less than a minute off the lead; if I hadn't slowed down to race Bradyn I might could've been up there with them but I was pretty cooked at the finish so not sure I could've gone much faster overall.

After this race I was looking pretty good in the points standings and feeling confident about my fitness and the way I'd been racing. The last two races could be considered home courses for me, Ruston where I went to college and really started mountain biking, and Huntsville which is close to home and I have lots of laps on.