The weekend couldn't get here fast enough. I was pumped to go race and even had a little confidence in myself after a good ride last week at Lock 4. Shannon and I camped with my parents on their piece of land on Lake Barkley in Kentucky Saturday night before the Race to the Canal. We had a nice night by the fire listening to college football on the radio while eating a plate of ribs my Dad smoked in the smoker grill he has built there. He built a small building up there this year with an open storage room above a garage. We slept the night in the storage room, listening to the howls of coyotes as we dozed off on our cots.
It was a cold morning as we head over to LBL for the race. We had some foggy views on the edge of the lake at first light. Once the sun came up, the air warmed quickly and it turned into a perfect day for a race. The trail was dry this year as we continue to be in a drought in this area. This race has suffered from some poor promoters the past few years and it has really reduced turnout. There were years when the course wasn't marked and people weren't given their prizes. But there was hope this year as we had new promoters and some new excitement in the air. Turnout was still low compared to the big numbers seen years ago, but it will come back if the promoter issues are resolved.
Things started tough for the new promoters. The Forestry deemed several bridges to be too dangerous and closed over three miles of the trail and would not let them use it for the race. Luckily, there were some gravel roads that could be used as a bypass. Nobody really wanted to add four miles of gravel road, but there was no choice if we wanted to race the full point-to-point course.
Registration turned into a nightmare. I am not a fan of computers when it comes to entering racer info and posting results. Racer info for all pre-registered riders should be entered into the computer BEFORE race day, not as you check in at the registration table. We sign up online, info transfer should be automatic. At a race where you sign up at the finish then have to drive 30 minutes to the start, registration needs to be fast. They had one person entering info as people checked in and it took entirely too long. The line was massive and a lot of people were late getting to their start spots because of it. I don't understand it. If you don't have time to enter the info the night before, do it during the race. There is nothing to score in a point-to-point until finishers start to arrive. That's plenty of time to enter everyone's info. They also forgot to order race numbers, so we had homemade number plates that were made out of something resembling wallpaper. It was actually pretty cool, a very unique number plate.
Pro and Cat. 1 19-39 were combined for this race, so I had five riders to race with. My plan was to be steady for the first half of the race, then push it hard to the end. I just wanted to stay in touch early and not get way behind in the first few miles like last year. I got a great jump off the line and ended up in the woods first. I really didn't want to lead this early, but when you smoke the start the way I did you have to enjoy it. I felt like I went so slow down the first hill, but it strung out the group and even caused a split that got rid of one rider out of our leading group. I expected someone to pass me up the first hill, but nobody came by. I ended up leading the first three miles before missing a turn at a reroute around a damaged bridge. I didn't know the reroute was coming and the course tape just kind of ran together when I came flying up on it. There were some people standing there trying to direct me, but I chose the wrong line and ended up on the wrong side of the tape. It cost me four spots and some time, but I was able to rejoin the group quickly.
I didn't feel very good early on and had some trouble on the first really difficult climb known as Ozmo. It is very steep and covered with loose rocks. Bobby Jones crushed the hill, while the rest of us had trouble. Most of us had to dismount and run. That split the group up. Bobby got a gap and was later joined by his two teammates in the race, Jaron Wood and Grant Wilson. Those three are all Juniors and all riding super strong this year. I ended up with Dustin Burkeen about 25 seconds back after the climb. We didn't chase too hard, but did keep them in sight. I got a good run on the descent to Sugar Bay and was able to bridge across alone by the time we reached the gravel reroute. The reroute road featured a tough climb. It's never a good sign when you reach a paved stretch on a gravel road climb. You know it's steep or they wouldn't have needed to pave it. I was afraid of getting dropped on something so steep, but I held on to the three amigos. After that climb, nobody wanted to work and we basically cruised three more miles of gravel road, allowing Dustin Burkeen to also make it across to make it a leading group of five again.
I took over the lead just before the end of the gravel road so I could lead into the singletrack. My favorite section was only two miles away and I was ready to up the pace and try to wear these young guys down. I just love the five miles from Duncan Bay to Pisgah Bay. I attacked when we hit the first climb after Duncan and I put the hurt on the others, but everyone stayed with me. I kept pushing even though I still didn't feel great. Then another reroute snuck up on me and I missed another turn that wasn't marked very well. It cost me the lead again and broke up my flow. I dropped to fourth and was gapped. This time I couldn't close it down. I just didn't have the legs and the three youngsters upped the pace on me. At Birmingham Ferry, with 16 miles to race, Dustin and I were 35 seconds behind the lead trio. My legs were fading out, so I just tried to keep it steady and hope that the leaders would fade later. Dustin and I had fun ripping through Pisgah Bay, talking to each other and not really focusing on the three ahead. As we crossed the dirt road at Pisgah we had the leaders in sight. We then focused on the chase and manged to get back to them by the Hillman Ferry Campground road crossing with 11 miles to go.
The front three upped the pace again immediately after we made the bridge and we both were gapped off again. At the top of the next climb, Jaron flatted, leaving Grant and Bobby out front. I pulled away from Dustin and set out after them. I still felt bad and didn't expect to ever see the front two again, but then there they were just a few seconds ahead. I was able to climb across to them yet again on the climb after Moss Creek. I expected them to hit me hard on the next two climbs which are very steep and difficult, but they seemed to be struggling more than me now. I was still feeling bad, but suddenly the pace was lower and it didn't hurt so bad. After being all over them on those two climbs, I had some big confidence and was ready to battle it out in the last six miles on the Canal Loop which is full of short, steep climbs. My endurance had kept me in this race with a good chance to win.
I grabbed some food after topping a climb and lost a few bike lengths. A quick set of turns was coming up so I pushed it through the turns to get back to the wheel in front of me. I misjudged a berm in the dust and slipped my front tire over the berm. I washed out and slammed the ground pretty hard. I hit both knees on my stem, my chest slammed the handlebar and my hip plowed the berm. It was one of those hard hits where you can't move your leg at first. I had to walk it off when I was able to get up. Dustin came by as I tried to gather myself up. My hip and chest got better once I got back on the bike, but my right knee hurt the rest of the race. I caught the edge of my patella on the stem bolt and it caused a small, but deep split in the skin that bruised me pretty deeply. I probably could have used a few stitches. Fortunately, I had no serious injuries. I limped it home to finish 4th. I was sore and disappointed at giving away a good chance to win today. That race was playing more and more into my hands and I hate giving away races like that. I have more work to do on dialing in my dusty berms and focus at the end of a long race like that.
My Dad also raced today and took the win in the Cat. 3 40+ on his new bike. He bought a Specialized Epic while we were gone to Utah. I haven't posted any pictures of it because it's his baby and he does not trust me with it long enough for me to take any pics. It was his first race on it and apparently it helped as he won by almost two full minutes.
A muddy Mike Taglio after the race. Mike found himself stuck in a deep rut on a dirt road section and ended up going down in some deep mud. It coated his number plate, handlebar and right arm. Tough dude that won't let anything stop him from getting to the finish.
Video: Just a few quick clips from the race before Shannon had to take off to make it to church
It took a long time to get results posted at the race. I just can't believe how long it takes to organize and print out results from the computer. Writing would have been much faster than whatever program they used. There weren't many riders so it should not have taken all that long. I think a lot of the issues the race promoters had were just growing pains and I hope they will learn from this first year and fix things next year. I also hope they won't lose the few riders that did come to the event this year. It really is a good race on a good course. There is just something about a point-to-point race that is really fun to me and I look forward to racing here again next year. This dusty race wraps up my mountain biking season and the bulk of my racing for the year. Now its time to start working toward next season and maybe even get into cross season if the weather ever cools off.
