This past weekend I traveled to Maryland for two days to pre-ride and race the Greenbrier Challenge in Boonsboro, which serves as the Maryland State Championship as well as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship. I was pretty excited to be racing mountain bikes again after a winter of road riding and racing but was a bit apprehensive to see what had become of my technical ability during that time.
I headed to the course on Saturday to do a few laps of pre-riding before the race on Sunday. My Dad joined me for the ride and, as he rides just a few times every year, we were taking things nice and easy. I decided that after one relaxed lap I'd head out and hold and more consistent and moderate pace for another lap before calling it a day. As I was heading down the last 100 feet of rocky singletrack during the first lap, I put a nice inch-long slice in the sidewall of my rear tire. So much for that second lap. At that point I was stressing, not because of missed pre-riding, but because it was now 5:30 on a Saturday evening the night before a race and I had no rear tire. Luckily the nearest shop,
Bike Doctor of Frederick, was open until 6 and had no problem with me coming it at closing to waffle over what tire to select. Thanks, guys! Of course, with no air compressor at my home, I was unable to seat and inflate the new tire to my rim. I put on another wheel to take its spot and cleaned my bike for the following day's race.
Sunday morning dawned clear, with not a cloud in the sky but a slight chill in the air. I gathered my riding gear, packed the car and headed to the race with my parents. We stopped by
The Bicycle Connection on the way to the race and Dan, Jack, Pat, Andrew and Ian were kind enough to let me run down to the basement before the shop opened so I could seat my tire to my race wheel. After setting up the tire and continuing our drive, I learned that the Continental X-King I purchased features a new weight-saving technology: micro pin-holes throughout the sidewalls and tread that not only shave grams but also allow air to seep out and spray Stan's sealant in every direction. After shaking, spinning and bouncing the tire for the rest of the drive, I believed I had it sealed well enough. We arrived on-site, I got my number and began to warm up. It was near the end of my warm-up that I learned the X-King had, in fact, not sealed. I stopped at the car on my way to the start, brought the tire back up to pressure, shook it up a bit more and headed down to the start line. At this point I was quite sure the tire was sealed.
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| Cat 1 Men - 19-24 at the start |
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| Cat 1 Men - 19-24 at the start |
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| Start of the race |
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| Start of the race |
Unlike most races, I got off to a fast start - third into the singletrack - and didn't blow-up immediately after. After the first rocky section and descent, I was starting the first significant climb on the wheel of 1st and 2nd place and enjoyed watching the other racers disappear behind us. It was just after this nice sensation of riding well, feeling fast and being in a good position in the race that I experienced a not so good sensation: the feeling of my rear tire slowly deflating. I stopped to squish the tire with my hand and quickly continued. After regaining contact with the two riders ahead, I had to stop again to reinflate my tire with a CO2 cartridge. After this second stop, I fell behind the first chase group in my race. By the time I caught that group, I was nearing the tech zone at the end of the lap and stopped to pick up a new rear wheel, falling back once again.
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| This must've been taken on the first lap, otherwise I'd have been very muddy. |
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| End of the first lap |
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| "I need a wheel" |
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| Chasing after taking a wheel |
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| Chasing after taking a wheel |
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| Chasing after taking a wheel |
I spent the following three laps chasing and chasing and chasing to try and regain as many spots as possible. I definitely burned a few matches with all of the stops and incessant chasing without being content to sit-in with a group of riders. I clawed back to as high as 4th place and fell back to 6th on the last lap and held that through the finish. Upon crossing the finish, I discovered that my front tire was also going flat - another victim of the wet, rocky singletrack at the end of each lap.
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| Somewhere in the middle of the race... I have no idea when or where |
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| Coming through for another lap |
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| Coming through for another lap |
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| At the finish |
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| At the finish |
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| At the finish |
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| Tired and muddy |
After going through three tires (one defective) and not finishing nearly as well as I had hoped to - or could have without the flats - I quietly packed up, talked with some friends and headed home to clean up and pack for my return to Banner Elk the following day.
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| Only one tire in this picture holds air |
There were a few high points of the day, though. Regardless of my result, I have always loved the course at Greenbrier and I once again had a blast racing there. I also enjoyed meeting up with Bicycle Connection rider Tommy Steinebrunner after his race and appreciated hearing him cheer for me during my race. Tommy is just getting into racing at a more competitive level this year and has proved to be a top rider in Cat-2 races around the Mid-Atlantic. He'll be moving up to Cat-1 soon and I don't anticipate him having too much trouble finding his way back onto the podium once he does. Like almost every cycling event, I throughly enjoyed meeting new people and talking to other racers.
Aside from flat tires, my new
S-Works Stumpjumper was the perfect bike for the weekend. Super fast on the climbs and a ripper on the descents. Paired with the new
Roval Control carbon wheels, this bike absolutely flies through race courses. As always, a big thanks to
Peak Cycles/Bikeparts.com for keeping me on the best team, riding the best bikes and with the coolest guys and girls around!
Also, a big thanks to my parents for coming to watch me race, hang out in the tech/feed zone and for taking pictures!
This Sunday I'll head down to Georgia to race the South East Regional Championship race and, hopefully, not flat. At the moment it's forecasted to be cold and rainy Saturday and at race time (9:30 am) Sunday. Should be interesting!
