Fair Hill Race April 10

Looks like about an inch of rain fell today alone. Hopefully going to get a look at the trails tomorrow night.
 
Got this this morning:

FROM: Bike Line Spring XC @ Fair Hill Mid-Atlantic Super Series
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Pleaase help us save the course.
The steady rain on Friday has the course fairly wet. We are asking all participants to not ride the course Saturday in the morning if at all. We need to give it a chance to dry out to minimize damage to the trails an keep it in great racing condition. We are fortunate to be able to use this beautiful venue so please help us save the course.

I prefer to show up late and ride without knowing what's coming next or how long the course is. Makes the beginner class even more fun. I guess this means it's on!
 
Trails are a little muddy. The sun did not come out for long today. Just so you know there will be a prologue through a grassy field before the bridge. Adds a little mileage, but also thins things out before the singletrack. The grassy field is a little mushy. You have been warned.



Carrie
 
The trails are a little slick in places, mostly near the start finish area. There is a new climb right around 4.8mi in. No surprises really.
 
For any one who did it, how'd it go? I had a really good first lap ... unfortunately, I needed two. I'd love to have an excuse for why it didn't work out, but the fact is it was all rider error. I pushed a little too hard coming one short, steep climb near the end of the first lap and felt my right leg go shaky. It made the second lap an adventure -- every time the trail turned upward, I was thinking, "Is this when it's going to give out?" It slowed me down, and then it finally did blow out on the one "big" climb of the day, which wasn't really a big climb at all. It locked up pretty bad and I had to limp up the second to last section of the climb. I did get sufficiently pissed enough, though, to force myself to ride the last section of it, which hurt like a mother. After that, I was just so damn angry at myself for blowing a top ten day that I forced myself to wince through the pain and pushed through the last mile. I came through the start finish after the first lap hanging in the top ten, and I lost at least six spots in that second, terrible lap. I'd love to say that it doesn't bother me, that a bad day is just a bad day, but that's bullshit. It DOES bother me. I felt good in the beginning. I did a dumbass thing and I paid for it in my finish position. I ended up 16th in the SS Open field. Sixteenth ... boo, 1speed!!!!!
 
um.. er.. 1speed, are you me? Was 3rd going into 2nd lap. Gave up 2 spots down to 5th until that last little rocky climb. Blew it and put my foot down which caused my whole right leg to cramp. By the time I got back on the bike a group of 6 in my age group passed me! Ended up 11th, blowing top 10. Had I made that section I feel I could have held them off. No excuses in races though.
Course was pretty slick but was a blast. Great job by Bikeline. Fast results for sport. Feels good having 1st race of the season in the can. On to Wayway.
 
MMuller said:
um.. er.. 1speed, are you me? Was 3rd going into 2nd lap. Gave up 2 spots down to 5th until that last little rocky climb. Blew it and put my foot down which caused my whole right leg to cramp. By the time I got back on the bike a group of 6 in my age group passed me! Ended up 11th, blowing top 10. Had I made that section I feel I could have held them off. No excuses in races though.
Course was pretty slick but was a blast. Great job by Bikeline. Fast results for sport. Feels good having 1st race of the season in the can. On to Wayway.
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Why, yes ... yes I am you ... 😀

I have to echo you on the great job by Bikeline. They were fantastic. That course was slick but manageable and asking people not to pre-ride yesterday was the right call. They are just a top of the line organization when it comes to their races and other events. I always enjoy them. It was a blast, until I blasted myself. And you know what was really, really cool? When you came across the finish line, your name flashed up on the board under your time. I got a kick out of that. The last time I saw or heard my name during a race was at a 24 hour a few years ago. Just a nice touch.
 
Hi MMuller and 1speed,

Raced sport men 30-39(Huge group BTW 75+ people!)

I agree Bikeline did a great job today...used to use them back in the day when I was in college at UD in early '90s.

I felt ok at the beginning, was in top 15 going into the ST. It was slick in some spots, and some of the roots caused me concern but overall I felt confident. Couple of the riders blew up after gunning it in the beginning giving me an opportunity to gain some spots.

Came thru S/F in top 6 spots feeling good, just starting to warm up now. Had a good flow with some of the guys going back and forth for the first half of the 2nd lap. Then I started having shifting issues...chain suck like I've never seen...and it kept happening. At the top of the long-ish climb that looked kind of new, chain snapped off the bike...and since my ride is new I wasn't carrying a link🙁 So I wrapped my chain around my neck and ran(more like jogged) it in for the last 2+ miles. Don't know what official place was, but was bummed that I had a shot to do well and could not see it thru...think clock read 1:23 as I came thru(not sure if that is adjusted since we were 4min off the 19-29 start). Thought it was funny my Garmin had avg speed over 10mph since I ran the last bit.

Anyway it was a blast to ride, I've never been there before and really dug it.
 
This was my first ever race, I was Cat2 SS and came in 15th. I went in not knowing anything about racing and just wanted to complete the race so 15th is great. The course was in good shape though, although the roots at the switchbacks were a little sketch. Bikeline did an awesome job, for the amount of people racing they kept things moving smooth.
 
Ended up 11th in cat2 senior1. I was looking forward to this race all winter, but missed two weeks of riding in march due to sickness. I was only able to get 5 rides in before the race and they were all on a brand new bike, so I'm pretty happy. Had some back spasms which lost me a few spots. Gotta start stretching more the next few weeks and try to put a hurting down at granogue.

Edit - the trail conditions for the cat2 races were rough. I pre rode on saturday and the trails were 10x softer during our race. The winning time in my class was 3 minutes slower than my 6th place finish last year and he was over 3 minutes ahead of second place. Very slow trails.

(disclaimer - the course was different, but not by much)
 
Glenlivet12 said:
This was my first ever race, I was Cat2 SS and came in 15th. I went in not knowing anything about racing and just wanted to complete the race so 15th is great. The course was in good shape though, although the roots at the switchbacks were a little sketch. Bikeline did an awesome job, for the amount of people racing they kept things moving smooth.
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You passed me right before the finish -- right after the climb. (I was the slow-moving also-ran in the black Swobo jersey.) You got a big lead on me and I got pissed at myself and tried to run you down. I took back about 20 seconds, but ran out of time and legs. Nice job!
 
1speed said:
You passed me right before the finish -- right after the climb. (I was the slow-moving also-ran in the black Swobo jersey.) You got a big lead on me and I got pissed at myself and tried to run you down. I took back about 20 seconds, but ran out of time and legs. Nice job!
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Thanks man, it was a good race. See you at SSaP!
 
Fairkill

13th of 35, Cat 2 Singlespeed.

I was probably operating at only 70% today. My road ride in the hills yesterday put my legs a little over the edge. They definitely felt heavy this morning. Thats OK though because this was not a target race for me. My goal today was to get my mind back into the game in preparation for the season.

Started towards the back of the pack. Picked off quite a few dudes early on to secure my position in which I would remain roughly for the two laps. I rode the wheel of a yellow-shoed fellow in a Cycle Smart kit almost the entire time and James Pearl sucked my rear wheel all day. Every time I passed someone, Pearl would follow. I just couldn't shake the kid off. We had a good train going, and I don't believe we got passed by anyone. except at this clusterfuck where every one was getting hung up on some stupid rocks.

Somewhere during the last 10 minutes, I reached for my water bottle and Pearl jumped out in front of me. Bastard! I got stuck behind a slower guy on gears briefly and that put a 30 second gap between Pearl and I. Eventually I caught up with Yellow-Shoes again and smoked him in the sprint for the finish.

Not bad for the first race of the year, also considering I was not 100%. Pretty happy with how things went down.

Congratulations to all my friends who came out and put up a fight today!
 
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