In January my wife and daughter were headed to Arizona for an Irish Dance competition which happened to coincide with the first race in the MBAA series at McDowell Mtn State Park. Seemed like a good opportunity to do some desert riding. Going in to this the focus was to have fun and consider it a training ride rather than racing for a result.
On race day I was flying back from an overseas trip and landed in Denver just as the race started. I learned via a quick round of text messages that his chain broke right off the line. Fairly new chain too. There was a shop set up for support and they were able to get him back on the trail in a few minutes. Apparently he had a good first lap and made up some ground then about 1/4 of the way through lap two the chain broke again - race over. He walked it back in and by all accounts had a good attitude about the whole thing.
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| Post race - smile on face |
We were definitely bummed about the chain. That's the third broken chain since September. We know what happened with the first two, but this one was a mystery. Appears that off the line it was the quick link that gave out. Goodbye SRAM hello KMC.
Fast forward to March. The Pro XCT also looked like a good early season option and provide some motivation for the time spent indoors on the trainer. And who doesn't like getting away from real winter to not-winter. From what I could tell the advantage at this race goes to riders from the sun belt who are already part way into their race season but we still figured Trevor would be able to hang in with the middle of the pack.
We got to the venue on Friday and did a two lap pre ride. Except for long climbs the course had a bit of everything and got a thumbs up from both of us. Decent start loop, twisty bits through the trees, tech, rocks, sneaky b-lines, good passing opportunities. The weather was shaping up nicely too. On our second lap we spent some time picking lines and working on the tricky spots. Trevor is getting good a reading the trail and picking lines so my only useful advice was to be patient in the twisty bits through the trees. No place to pass and very easy to stuff yourself in a corner or hook your bars on a tree.
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| Enjoying the action |
Saturday I got in a morning ride on the Madrone trail near our Canyon Lake accommodations (a good hour long beat down) and then we headed back to the venue to watch the pros race. We found a good spot on the last climb not too far from the finish. We positioned ourselves near a ledge with a b and c-lines. Russell was the only pro near the front who rode the b-line. If hit just right it made for a decent passing opportunity. The c-line was even shorter but was more committing. We saw a few mid pack riders hit that one consistently. It made for a good show and the crowd loved it.
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| Russell Finsterwald exiting the b-line |
Sunday was race day. Went through the normal prep and warm up. Call ups were based on results in the local TMBRA series followed by registration order. Trevor was last rider called up and settled in at the back of the group at the start. After the group came through the start loop I booked it over to the first tech/aid zone on the course just in time to watch the group come through. Trevor had picked off a handful of riders already and was looking good.
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| Making his move at the top of the Strava climb |
After cheering on the rest of the group I went back over the finish area pit and waited. And waited and waited. It was obvious something had slowed him down. I waited about 15 minutes after his group came through and then tracked down a race official. She confirmed he had a mechanical and was out of the race.
I caught up with him down he had walked back to start area. The rear wheel had slipped in the drop out when he going up and over a ledge and jammed up tight in the frame. It took me several minutes to get it out and I'm still trying to figure out what happened. The QR was tight so it must have clipped a rock and came loose. Oh well, another part for the dust bin. Not finishing another race due to a mechanical wasn't what he was looking for but kudos to my son for training himself to have a good attitude and the ability to look forward. As a racer I've been in the same spot and can move on, but as coach, mechanic and Race Dad I'll admit that this is much harder to wrap my head around. I'm sure we'll be back next year. The event is well run, the course is good and the weather put a smile on our faces.
The trip home was quite memorable. We drove to Lubbock Sunday night and before hitting the road I spent 40 minutes trying to find decent coffee. At this point I was dealing with three days of seriously caffeine deprivation and the first place my GPS routed me to was a dirt lot. Nooooooo! We stopped off at Palo Duro canyon near Amarillo to stretch the legs with one last ride in the sun. If you are passing through it is worth the stop. After our ride I thought about stuffing the bikes in the back of the car because I knew we'd hit some weather. Fixing lunch and getting rolling pushed that thought to the back of my mind and by the time we got to Raton it was too late.
We hit the pass just as the front was rolling through the area. It was an epic drive from the top of the pass to Pueblo. Driving in heavy snow at night truly sucks. We could see the slush building up on the bikes but it wasn't until we pulled into the garage I actually saw how bad it was. Pictures tell the story best. Up next is the Rumble at 18 Road in Fruita.
-----Cheers - Pablo
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| That's a lot of ice |
