Brief summary of this year's MTB racing experience...
2008 Mountain Bike Association of Arizona race series recap.
To commit or not to commit, that is the question I pose to myself every year. To do this series requir
es a great deal of commitment of time, money, and physical abuse. I love mountain bike racing, but I also love many other activities in my life as well so it's a tough decision.
Thought I'd go out to the first race in January at McDowell mountain park and see how I'd do with zero training. Somehow it all came together and I won that race. Kinda surprised me, I guess I just felt good that day. In my case, it was a rare thing to stand atop of the podium. I had placed top 5 many times in 10 years of racing the series, but I had only won 1 race and that was when the strongest rider in my class was probably having an off-day.
The next race was at Whitetanks in west Phoenix, a good course for me usually but I had been sick the entire previous week and only felt good enough to race the day before. I was frustrated by my lack of fight and a chain that wouldn't stay put, but luckily finished second at about 4 minutes back. Some of the problem that day was my choice of bike set-up. I had ridden my Niner with a rigid carbon fiber fork and done pretty well at McDowell, but Whitetanks is a bit rougher and I got jostled pretty good.
The Estrella course was by far the roughest, most technical course in the series. For me personally, it's just not fun, just a rocky beast that never lets you relax. I could get by on my rigid Niner but I would definitely be slow and slow is not good. So, Kent Hatfield lent me his Santa Cruz Blur full-suspension bike. I felt better physically than the previous race and the full suspension was huge. I led for a lot of the race but while trying to pass a slower rider, I went down hard. I was cut and bruised and mad, a rider had cut me off and hit my front wheel. I gathered myself, jumped back on and took off. Then as I heading down the next wash discovered that I had no rear brake. I tried to get my weight back and brake with the front but it was too late, I took flight. I tried to repair the thing but I was also losing time to the other riders so I kept going. By the time I got back to the start I was done, I'd gone down too many times. I'd never quit a race before but if I had to go around that Technical loop again without the rear brake I felt I would surely break a bone. I was letting the race people know I wouldn't be going back out when the REI mechanic came over and after a few minutes fixed the problem. By then I had resigned myself to being done so it was highly difficult to go back out and mix it up again. But, I took off, re-passed a few riders in my group and better yet, finished alive. I felt very fortunate to end up 3rd.
My main competitor through the series was John Camoriano, he lives in Lehi and I understand is on the Brumby list of riders. He was sick for the next race south of Tucson at Gardner Canyon and it was a bit of a let-down for me. I liked the course though, tall grass, some steep climbs and fast roads when the wind was at your back (going out we had a pace-line going because of the fierce head wind). I felt good that day and took a hollow 1st place.
It was just after Tucson that I went with Kyle Jorgensen and Jim Wilson to a McDowell training ride and experienced the low point of the season, a brutal crash that (without whining too much) left me banged-up pretty good with the next race right around the corner. In fact, I'm still having physical issues from that lovely experience as I write this.
Nova National at McDowell was like home court to me, I had won the first race here and I knew every inch of it from years of using it. It's a fast course and I like to think the roadie in me is a benefit there. Nova National is a national race with pro riders from all over the country coming to admire the cactus and good weather. I signed up for the Sport series which consisted of an off-road downhill time trial on Friday afternoon and the mountain bike race on Saturday morning. I won the time trial but it used me up somewhat and I felt like I might've ruined my chances for the next morning.
The next morning I was tired but still felt confident. John was there and I really wanted to do well, I had to do well, we were all fighting for points and it was close in the series. Had a good start, left most of the field early on and kept changing leads with a non-series racer. I felt I had it going well then disaster...flat tire, I was in denial but the reality was I had to get it changed fast. I had just got the valve out when John rolled by. I was drifting around in that area between desperation and surrender. I chose desperation, finished the repair and put the hammer down. No good, finished 3rd and was starting to despair about my chances for the overall but I was committed though my last hope to stay close was a good showing in Prescott. On a good note, I did take the overall for the Nova series for my group.
I didn't pre-ride this course, never could find the time. Thought I'd just go up with Meri and be together. Kind of a fun course, lots of ups and downs, no big climbs or long downhills, just dusty fun. Took a left instead of a right after the start and found myself alone off course. Back tracked about 100 yards and found the right trail. Not to panic, just be patient and reel 'em in I thought. That's just what happened, got a feel for the course after the first lap then pushed on the next two. I finished 1st again but John didn't show. He told me later he was down in Patagonia (South America) at the time.
The finals this year were in Flagstaff, I'd ridden some of the course but not the portion named "Rocky Ridge". Went up to pre-ride after work one day and learned why it's named as such; rocks-o-plenty, definitely not for the rigid bike, so I stepped up and put a Fox up front. I'm sure it helped but I wasn't used to it, and it seemed like it was bucking me quite a bit during the race. The final point totals going into the finals had me ahead by just 2 points. So, the rider who finished ahead of the other would win the series and that coveted jersey.
Weird start for the finals this year, they sent us off in big groups of approximately 60-70 riders. This was not something we expected or were used to and it reared it's ugly head when the road narrowed abruptly to single-track. I knew the consequences of not getting out front, found a nice opening, red-lined my heart rate, and passed quite a few riders before the narrowing, so I was able to ride nearly all of that first section. I was fried but found myself near the front. I heard many stories of those caught up in the back and having to march along for quite a ways. Much frustration.
By the time I hit Rocky Ridge I was gasping, the altitude was not friendly on my body and I was all over the place. I let one faster rider go by me, tried to get back on track, but couldn't unclick and fell down the slope off the trail, thought I broke my knee at first but it was just a rash. I never did recover from that and kept having handling issues until I got to some smoother trails. Felt good on the climb out and back down Dogfood andShultz Creek trails although I did go left about 50 yards on Pipeline road before I discovered another wrong turn mishap. That mishap gave me an adrenaline surge and I felt I climbed possessed up Mt Elden Lookout road to the final descent on Lower Oldham. Walked up the last technical uphill climb of about 30 yards, then with the help of a stiff tailwind flew across the line. Didn't know how I finished until later when results came up. I ended up 2nd (behind a non-series racer) for the race and subsequently 1st overall in the series as John finished around 6th. He told me at the awards that his tire had been rubbing the frame. That's what's good AND bad about a series like this, you never know what's going to happen from race to race.
Grant and Colton Taylor did awesome, they did all the races but one and each finished second overall in their respective groups. Husband and wife team Camoriano did well also with John taking second overall and Jennifer winning her classification. Lance Runyan, Kam Reedy, and Kyle Reedy tore up the Semi-pro class and finished in that order in the final point standings. Not sure how they finished overall but they must've been right there.
So that's about it, a roller coaster to be sure, but lots of fun. This year I learned to have more patience and got to meet some great people.
Jim Auwen May 18th 2008
