IGVENTURE

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Ricky Bobby ACE Iggy

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pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Bear Creek Race

Yesterday I got a ride out to Bear Creek with Kirt to race cat 1 50+. It's a good thing he and I showed up, there was only one other dude who raced that class. It was nice to be able to hang with teammates Jeremy, 6er, and Kirt before the race. Coming to these events is a lot more enjoyable when you have friends and people you know there. For me these races are social and competitive, if it was just competition it would not mean as much to me. Rolling through the lot I saw Art and Ellen, they just finished their race. Art told me that the dropper really makes a difference on this course. The downhills are are sick yo.

Technical races always get less of a draw, everyone loves Fair Hill or Stewart but places like Wawayanda, Mooch, Ringwood and Bear Creek scare some folks away, these tech places are hard enough to ride, let alone race. To put real numbers to it Fair Hill had 530 reg for their race, French Creek 320 and Bear Creek 185.

Its for this reason I brought out the Tallboy, after racing rigid SS last year I swore I would never do that again at Bear Creek. BC has the most difficult downhill section of any course I've ever raced, this year I wanted to enjoy it. I can't say enough about the awesomeness the 3rd generation Tallboy is, so solid on tech, with the right tires and dropper post, the downhill trails flow and confidence builds. Last year I sucked on the downhill, this year I rolled everything clean. I did hop off on a greasy uphill that I wasn't ready for but other then that I was really happy with the way I rode. I was 3/3 on the hard left hand turn at the heckle area, those dudes at that turn were awesome, they pumped me up every time to make it around clean.

The course is basically 3 parts, which ramp up in technical difficulty. First is the climb to the top, which isn't too steep and least tech, next is the upper section that winds around the top and the downhill which is the most tech. This 1st section is the hardest for me because it requires non stop pedaling, without a break. The climb is not that steep but requires constant effort. The upper section is tempo pace, with occasional rocks and short punchy up and downs. The 3rd part is the downhill, this is the fun mtb part, not much pedaling, drop the seat, breath and flow. This is the section that smooth is fast and fast is smooth, unless you're in the pro class, then fast is fast and fast is fast or you get Dave Taylored.

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Since there was only 3 of us in 50+ class the starter let us go with the 40-49 group, which made it more of a race with 13 people. This meant me and Kirt were lined up with Jeremy and 6er, which was pretty awesome. The top 5 guys in 40-49 gapped us pretty quick on the climb up, I got around 6er about halfway up the climb with Kirt following close behind me. When we got to the top, Kirt told me afterward that I made some aggressive passes on some 40-49 guys, I kinda remember passing some guys but feel like I was on auto pilot, instinctively making moves to try and put a gap on Kirt. This middle section seems like it took for ever before we got to the downhill. Finally we came to a section I call the Den, its where a photographer had set up last year. Its a twisting slightly downhill section in between some large rocks and a short punchy climb back up to some rocks and off camber rocky ride to some more twisty turns until you come to the HARD left at the heckle area. I am guessing these are the switchbacks @UtahJoe is talking about. This is where I passed Werner, who was the 5th place guy in 40-49, he was nice enough to move over and let me by, now I felt the pressure even more so to clear the turn. I took it wide and nailed it, after that turn I felt like I could ride anything and rode out the next 2 laps clean. As I was finishing lap 1 I didn't see Kirt behind me, he told me later that he went otb at the top of the switchbacks, this probably set him back about 30 seconds behind me.

The next two laps I pushed the climb up, tempo'd the middle and rode clean and smooth on the downhill. At the start of lap 3 I saw Kirt about 20ish? seconds behind me, which motivated me to put in some digs on the climb. This last lap I felt my rear tire was a bit soft, which was a result of burping some air. As I got to the top I tried to keep up the effort but take conservative lines to keep from losing my tire. Once I reached the Den and it was just the downhill I felt I could just ride it home for 1st place. At every turn I was looking back for Kirt but did not see him, which put me at ease and allowed me to finish out the race somewhat comfortably.

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jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Bear Creek Race

Yesterday I got a ride out to Bear Creek with Kirt to race cat 1 50+. It's a good thing he and I showed up, there was only one other dude who raced that class. It was nice to be able to hang with teammates Jeremy, 6er, and Kirt before the race. Coming to these events is a lot more enjoyable when you have friends and people you know there. For me these races are social and competitive, if it was just competition it would not mean as much to me. Rolling through the lot I saw Art and Ellen, they just finished their race. Art told me that the dropper really makes a difference on this course. The downhills are are sick yo.

Technical races always get less of a draw, everyone loves Fair Hill or Stewart but places like Wawayanda, Mooch, Ringwood and Bear Creek scare some folks away, these tech places are hard enough to ride, let alone race. To put real numbers to it Fair Hill had 530 reg for their race, French Creek 320 and Bear Creek 185.

Its for this reason I brought out the Tallboy, after racing rigid SS last year I swore I would never do that again at Bear Creek. BC has the most difficult downhill section of any course I've ever raced, this year I wanted to enjoy it. I can't say enough about the awesomeness the 3rd generation Tallboy is, so solid on tech, with the right tires and dropper post, the downhill trails flow and confidence builds. Last year I sucked on the downhill, this year I rolled everything clean. I did hop off on a greasy uphill that I wasn't ready for but other then that I was really happy with the way I rode. I was 3/3 on the hard left hand turn at the heckle area, those dudes at that turn were awesome, they pumped me up every time to make it around clean.

The course is basically 3 parts, which ramp up in technical difficulty. First is the climb to the top, which isn't too steep and least tech, next is the upper section that winds around the top and the downhill which is the most tech. This 1st section is the hardest for me because it requires non stop pedaling, without a break. The climb is not that steep but requires constant effort. The upper section is tempo pace, with occasional rocks and short punchy up and downs. The 3rd part is the downhill, this is the fun mtb part, not much pedaling, drop the seat, breath and flow. This is the section that smooth is fast and fast is smooth, unless you're in the pro class, then fast is fast and fast is fast or you get Dave Taylored.

View attachment 70003

Since there was only 3 of us in 50+ class the starter let us go with the 40-49 group, which made it more of a race with 13 people. This meant me and Kirt were lined up with Jeremy and 6er, which was pretty awesome. The top 5 guys in 40-49 gapped us pretty quick on the climb up, I got around 6er about halfway up the climb with Kirt following close behind me. When we got to the top, Kirt told me afterward that I made some aggressive passes on some 40-49 guys, I kinda remember passing some guys but feel like I was on auto pilot, instinctively making moves to try and put a gap on Kirt. This middle section seems like it took for ever before we got to the downhill. Finally we came to a section I call the Den, its where a photographer had set up last year. Its a twisting slightly downhill section in between some large rocks and a short punchy climb back up to some rocks and off camber rocky ride to some more twisty turns until you come to the HARD left at the heckle area. I am guessing these are the switchbacks @UtahJoe is talking about. This is where I passed Werner, who was the 5th place guy in 40-49, he was nice enough to move over and let me by, now I felt the pressure even more so to clear the turn. I took it wide and nailed it, after that turn I felt like I could ride anything and rode out the next 2 laps clean. As I was finishing lap 1 I didn't see Kirt behind me, he told me later that he went otb at the top of the switchbacks, this probably set him back about 30 seconds behind me.

The next two laps I pushed the climb up, tempo'd the middle and rode clean and smooth on the downhill. At the start of lap 3 I saw Kirt about 20ish? seconds behind me, which motivated me to put in some digs on the climb. This last lap I felt my rear tire was a bit soft, which was a result of burping some air. As I got to the top I tried to keep up the effort but take conservative lines to keep from losing my tire. Once I reached the Den and it was just the downhill I felt I could just ride it home for 1st place. At every turn I was looking back for Kirt but did not see him, which put me at ease and allowed me to finish out the race somewhat comfortably.

View attachment 70004
So how come third place gets dogs and you guys didn't?
 
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