The Race to the Canal is one of the most fun races of the season. It's a point-to-point format for all racers. There are different starting points along the North-South Trail depending on ability level, but everyone races back to the Canal that seperates Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. Pro and Cat. 1 racers begin way down at the Golden Pond Planetarium. The course for us is 31 miles down the North-South Trail, followed by 6 miles on the Kentucky Lake side of the Canal Loop. It's a challenging course, with many short climbs. It's also one of the most beautiful courses, traversing many flat bottoms along the lake and going through some thick woods that are very colorful this time of year.
GPS course map. Race runs from South to North on the North/South Trail and Canal Loop
It was a chilly morning with temps in the upper-30s and a slight breeze. It was not quite as cold as yesterday's APSU 5K. I drove up the morning of the race, got registered at the Canal, and then drove down to the start at Golden Pond. Shannon was unable to make the trip, so my Mom went with me to provide feed support and drive my car back to the finish. We were the first ones to arrive at the start. I got ready and made a few adjustments to the bike. My bars were still crooked from the crash at Dirt, Guts & Donuts. I ended up choosing my Sette carbon hardtail for the event. The trails here are rough in places, but I figured I could make up a lot of time on the climbs with this bike.
It was a very unorganized, mass start of all Pro and Cat 1 riders. We sat in a big group listening to the pre-race instructions. We got informed that today was a youth hunt day, meaning kids with guns were sitting in the woods, badly wanting to shoot a deer. Great. I was the only Pro, so a finish would give me the win by default. Not exactly what I was hoping for. Usually there are several Pros at this race. Still, there were some strong Cat. 1s that I knew I would have to battle.
The start was strange. We just kind of started with no warning. I didn't want to lead into the woods, so I let Tim Baker get the hole shot. Out of our group, I think he was really the only one that actually wanted to lead. I went in behind him and just followed his wheel. I knew that I would ride way too hard early if I was in front. I needed to hold back since the distance was probably going to be too much for me and I did have some soreness in the legs from the run yesterday. I followed Tim for the first 2 miles, then I let my competitiveness get the better of me at the top of the first climb. He flew up the hill, but at the top I felt like I just needed to go by before the descent and first flat bottom next to the lake. He let me slide by and I started to pull off immediately.
Tim Baker out front just after the start
Cat. 1 riders come through the singletrack on the start
I built a few seconds lead. The leaves were very deep on the trail and several times I lost track of the trail and had to stop. That let the chasing group catch up. About 4 miles into the race, we hit a very steep climb. I was about 10 seconds ahead of Adam Queen and Will, a rider for Harpeth Bicycles. None of us made it up the climb. It was covered with loose rocks and very rooty at the top. Adam was on his Singlespeed. The loose rocks made it even harder for him to stand and turn his gear. I held the advantage over them up the next hill as well, then put a few more seconds into them on the fire road that followed. My legs had been burning early, but they were getting better now. I was feeling very strong on the flats.
My gap was 20 seconds when we hit the first main road crossing at Sugar Bay, 13 miles into the race. After Sugar Bay, there are three tough climbs in succession. On the second one, I could see Adam climbing behind me. I just knew he was catching me. I refused to look back up the next climb because I didn't want to see that he was getting close. I finally did check over my shoulder again after a few miles and I was surprised to not see anyone. That really boosted my confidence and I kicked it up a notch to try and pull away.
My favorite part of the race comes during miles 18-31. I just seem to ride well there and can get into a good rhythm. There was still nobody in sight as I hit Duncan Bay with 19 miles left to race. I was still feeling strong and hitting the climbs very hard. There was a new section thrown in just after Duncan Bay that bypassed a fire road descent. The new section added a climb. It was also very choppy, giving me a good beating on the hardtail. I got stung by a bee behind my ear just after the new section. It hurt, but only bothered me a few minutes.
The next road crossing came at Birmingham Ferry, where I took a feed and sucked down some more First Endurance Liquid Shot to keep my fuel tank topped off. Still no riders were in sight, but I had no idea my gap. It turns out that Adam and Will were together, chasing hard. Will was pulling on the flats and Adam was leading the climbs. It was a windy day, so having some help would've been nice, but I was happy to be out front and out of sight.
Laura Sweeney at Birmingham Ferry
I kept the hammer down the next 7 miles through my favorite sections, then took another feed at Hillman Ferry. At that road crossing, my Mom said she thought I had over a 2 minute lead at Birmingham Ferry. I was so pumped to hear that! I thought I was finally going to win a race this year! Well, I found out later that she had guesstimated the time gap and it was more like 1 minute. They had closed down to 30 sec by Hillman Ferry. I had no idea they were so close. I didn't back off, but I definitely was not aggressive with passing the traffic I was catching. Adam managed to lose Will on the next hill and then got me in sight. I was shocked to look back on a switchback and see Adam about 10 seconds back! I immediately upped the pace some more to try and hold him off, but he was flying up the climbs.
Wendy Scott at Hillman Ferry
He caught me just before we reached the Canal Loop with 6 miles to go. And he brought bad news. He said Will was just a few seconds back. I held the lead up the first few climbs on the Canal Loop, then I slipped in a sandy section on a longer hill and Adam came by. He gapped me the rest of the way up the hill, and that was it for me. He was quickly out of sight and gone. It's amazing how good you feel when you're out front and then how quickly your legs seem to fade once you get caught. It was like somebody deflated me when I saw him coming.
Me and Mean Joe together at the end of the North/South Trail
I managed to hold off Will by over a minute, but finished over a minute behind Adam. I was really disappointed to not win this race. I did not want to end my season without a mountain bike win, but I was ok with losing to one of my best friends. Adam is a great rider and he deserved the win. He definitely had more left at the end of the race. I am happy with my improvement. That was the best mountain bike race I have had all year. Awards were disappointing. They said they forgot to set out money for the Pro class, so I left empty handed. I could understand if you didn't want to pay me because there was only one in my class, but they paid top 3 in Cat. 2 classes that had only 4 riders. I'm not surprised that I left without money. I've only been paid twice this year, and both times were in mid-April. And everybody thinks the Pros have it made. I'd have been better off racing the Open class.
Adam wins the race with a time of 2:48.
Me hitting the finish line
Photo by Steve Beckett
Me post race. Photo by Steve Beckett
Like I said, my season is drawing to a close. Just a few cross races and 5Ks to go. Preparation for next year is already underway. I think I have found a more efficient way to train for this winter. Only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment