Not quite what I expected.
Shortly after arriving at Buck Hill we were told that they had decide to run the course in reverse. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that there would be some short sandy/rocky uphill sections that would be very difficult to negotiate. At the start I got a little better position near the outside of row two, but was forced to the outside after the gun because Heith was squeezed out and went down. For some reason I still am not able to push into the pack during the starts and it forces me to ride at the pace of slower riders. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of fast riders, but I think with better starts I have the speed to stay much closer to the top. After the start I settled into a good pace and passed a few riders on the climbs before entering into the single track. I could see a group in front of me and was gaining on them on certain sections. I was having a lot of trouble with the short sandy switchbacks and lost a lot of momentum. There were times when I was slowed down behind a group of riders but there are few places to pass and as soon as they hit the double track they would kick it hard enough so you could not get around.
For some reason there was a tight section between two trees that I just could not get through. On lap one, I hit my right shoulder against one tree. On lap two, I decided to bounce off the tree on the left (again with the shoulder). One the third lap, I hit the tree on the left again so hard that my left knee smashed into my stem. It took me a good 5 minutes before I was able to push with my left leg. On the forth lap, I was so freaked out that I basically tried walking through the section and got stuck between the trees for a few seconds. After that point I just put it in cruise and tried to maintain a decent pace.
Towards the end of the race I made an effort to pick up a few positions, but that was thwarted by a beginner rider going down in front of me (I am glad the kid is OK). It was actually fairly funny. I was charging hard on the downhill single track near the end of lap 3 when our group approached a lapped rider. He was about 20 yards in front of me when he got crossed up and went down in the middle of the trail. I hit the breaks and leaned back as far as I could not wanting to go over the bars, but it wasn't enough to stop in time. I rode on the front wheel for about 20 feet and about 10 feet before I T-boned the kid, I slammed on the breaks. I purposely veered to the right to avoid hitting him and I flipped over the bars and landed about 10 feet down the hill. The guy behind me must have had a good view because he stopped me after the race to say "that crash was awesome".
Shortly after arriving at Buck Hill we were told that they had decide to run the course in reverse. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I knew that there would be some short sandy/rocky uphill sections that would be very difficult to negotiate. At the start I got a little better position near the outside of row two, but was forced to the outside after the gun because Heith was squeezed out and went down. For some reason I still am not able to push into the pack during the starts and it forces me to ride at the pace of slower riders. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of fast riders, but I think with better starts I have the speed to stay much closer to the top. After the start I settled into a good pace and passed a few riders on the climbs before entering into the single track. I could see a group in front of me and was gaining on them on certain sections. I was having a lot of trouble with the short sandy switchbacks and lost a lot of momentum. There were times when I was slowed down behind a group of riders but there are few places to pass and as soon as they hit the double track they would kick it hard enough so you could not get around.
For some reason there was a tight section between two trees that I just could not get through. On lap one, I hit my right shoulder against one tree. On lap two, I decided to bounce off the tree on the left (again with the shoulder). One the third lap, I hit the tree on the left again so hard that my left knee smashed into my stem. It took me a good 5 minutes before I was able to push with my left leg. On the forth lap, I was so freaked out that I basically tried walking through the section and got stuck between the trees for a few seconds. After that point I just put it in cruise and tried to maintain a decent pace.
Towards the end of the race I made an effort to pick up a few positions, but that was thwarted by a beginner rider going down in front of me (I am glad the kid is OK). It was actually fairly funny. I was charging hard on the downhill single track near the end of lap 3 when our group approached a lapped rider. He was about 20 yards in front of me when he got crossed up and went down in the middle of the trail. I hit the breaks and leaned back as far as I could not wanting to go over the bars, but it wasn't enough to stop in time. I rode on the front wheel for about 20 feet and about 10 feet before I T-boned the kid, I slammed on the breaks. I purposely veered to the right to avoid hitting him and I flipped over the bars and landed about 10 feet down the hill. The guy behind me must have had a good view because he stopped me after the race to say "that crash was awesome".
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