The 3rd Race in the IMBCS Series was being held at Sunderbrunch Park in Davenport, only problem is I was supposed to be leaving for NY on Sunday, hmm I will do the race and then just drive from there, yeah that works. Get there after the beginner race started, so no pre-riding the course now, no biggie, got registered and walked up the first hill t take a peek at the course. Didn't get to see much, so I would wait and try to get a lap in before the start. Get into my preride at about 11:20, and the course is just over 5 miles long, so I am off at just about race pace just to see as much as I could of the course and after a few miles I realize it doesn't ever come back out to the paved section that you can just cruise back to the start, so I finally see course marshalls coming out and ask one of them where to get out. Find my way out and get to the start line with 10 minutes to go.
The 1st lap they have you go up the paved trail so we get a little more spread out before shooting into the singletrack, which about 99% of the course was, I am on the second row of about 30 plus guys including the single speeders, which start with us but are scored separately. She blows the whistle and we are off, I get clipped in and am about 5th wheel going up the hill with 2 guys behind me, and by the time we hit the top of the paved section we have maybe a 5 second gap, first 3/4 mile is all big ring-able and I am sitting in a good position. We drop down into the creek crossing and then shoot uphill, one guy spins out and I have to jump off to get around him, do a little cyclocrossing run by 3 guys and jump back on and keep going. When we get around to the point where you can see the creek crossing again I look over and the last 10 or so guys are basically stopped waiting, good thing I was up front. The rest of the lap was me and 4 other guys riding pretty closely together and I cam across onto the next lap in 2nd or 3rd place.
2nd lap I am into a groove now and am just turning the pedals over at a constant pace to keep my position. About mile 2 I hit a tree with my shoulder, and could feel that it was pretty messed up, but never stopped to look at it just kept going. Got passed by a couple guys, and at the 1/2 way point I had hit the wall, and lost my rhythm, damn need to focus, a few more trees bounced off with my shoulder, elbow, hips and head I got back into it, but I have no one in sight either in front of or behind me, so just kept it going. I did get up to another guy, got by him, but on one section I wasn't pay attention, and went off course, grabbed a tree and let him go by me, but when I tried going again I fell farther into the woods and off my bike, so that sucked. Got back out of the woods and realized I needed to drink more as that wasn't really an option on this course so I was forcing my self to drink.
3rd and final lap I grabbed a bottle from the feed zone and was gonna make an effort to drink as much as I could on that lap, got to the top of the first climb where we cross the paved trail, grab a drink, and drop my bottle, crap, I grab both brakes and damn near endo, get my bottle picked up and a guy catches me, and I am thinking crap, but he is on a SS so I am all good, I get going again and get back up to him before the creek crossing and actually am in front of him for a little while. The rest of the lap we went back an forth being at the front, and that worked well giving me just enough motivation to keep pushing. Get to the back section of the course, maybe a mile to go, and we start to catch a few guys, sweet, so in the next 1/2 mile I am able to pick up 2 more spots. Get to the last section and just let it go to the finish, downhill for the most part, and it is a section you can flow pretty well. Come out of the woods and take a right turn back a across the bridge to the finish line, coast across the line in 1hour 35 minutes for the 16 mile race.
Waiting around for results because I knew I was top 10, but not sure just where, results get posted and I took 5th place in the Sport Open, and 2nd place Sport Men 30-39. So now wait around to see if I win anything, they do awards and I got a medal for my 2nd place Men 30-39. Leave from there at about 3:30 and now have a 16 hour drive to NY, wasn't gonna make it for that day, but all is good, we are in NY now, and will try and get some good climbing in while we are here. Will be back in a a week, pics will be up maybe tonight or tomorrow.
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