Started out with a clinb up a dirt road. I stayed in the back to start & just went my own pace but before long a few of the slower people started falling off a little. I had 4 of the 7 other guys ahead of me - one withe Colorado 'C' jersey who took off and went blazing on ahead and three that I kept close with after letting them get away a little in the beginning. When we finally hit the singletrack we caught a rider from the previous wave, although one of the guys from my wave managed to squeeze in in front of him and took off as well. I let the other guy from my wave in in front of me so now I was in 4th place with another guy from my wave right behind me. I'm not nearly as comfortable descending as I need to be so my only goal was to try to not let the guy in front of me get too far ahead but before long the guy behind me went past me too. This first descent was fun though, nice trail although it got pretty muddy and boggy towards the bottom.

I managed to keep those two guys close and we all went back & forth for a little while but once the trail started climbing a little again they hung for a while but eventually I was able to put some space between us. We popped out onto another dirt road and I took off with a good gap between us but I knew the two guys ahead of me were pretty far off, I couldn't see them at all. We climbed up a rocky dirt road a ways & by now I was catching people from the previous waves and starting to get a feel for this type of racing. One of the things I was nervous about beforehand was the whole passing/being passed thing but it worked out fine.

By now everyone had pretty much strung out so that you were with people going your own pace - since I was in one of the last waves there weren't many people coming by me. However, the beginner course was 2 miles shorter than the other classes and once the sport & expert riders joined back into the trail from their extension I was in the thick of some much faster riders and felt a lot more pressure not to hold anyone up.

We dove back into some singletrack descending and here I was mainly concerned with not holding anyone up too much but all in all it went well. I just tried to stay on the wheel of the guy in front of me as we descended.

We popped out onto another road to start climbing again and hey! I recognize that jersey! It was the 'C' guy from my wave who had taken off at the start. He was a little ways ahead and climbing decently in the pack. I got a few riders back but couldn't really pass him - I was hoping he'd blow up but he never did. Not too far from the top we came up on who I thought was the other guy from my wave who had taken off when we first entered the singletrack and went by him pretty easily. Dropped back into the woods right behind the 1st place guy who I never did catch on the climb and he took off from me. I was pushing it in the descent but didn't feel like going way outside my comfort level so I let him get away & just said, hey 2nd place is still pretty good. I didn't see him at the river crossing at the bottom (it was over our knees and cold! But pretty cool) but now we started out up the last big climb of the day- we were an hour in and would be climbing for the next 30' unbeknowst to me.

But before long, there was that familiar jersey. We passed a woman saying this was the last big climb of the ride so I figured now's the time to push it. Got by him and tried to put some space between us as we kept climbing. Eventually we rounded a turn and could that be? Yup, racers way up there, we're not near the top yet. I had maybe a minute or so on him but I dialed it back a little since I figured just getting to the top would be more important.

Eventually I crested, not knowing how far ahead I was but knowing I wanted to hold him off. This descent was the most technical riding of the day with a bunch of switchbacks and root drops. My legs were fried at this point so it was a mix of pushing myself to set a good pace for the people behindd me, not let the AG guy catch me, and push my comfort levels, but also, not to crash or do something stupid since my legs were toast.

After a long descent we came out near the base area and I didn't see the guy so I was a little relieved. A little trickery, and back into the trees but then, finally, was the finish chute.

I think the only thing that was really difficlut was not knowing the course. As it turns out I think I paced it well and picked the right spot to push towards the end but I could've just as easily blown up by pushing too early. I also had a long sleeve shirt on under my jersey but as soon as we started climbing I overheated and rolled up the sleeves - my arms got a bit surnburnt.

Ate whatever I could get my hands on, went back to the car & changed & grabbed the dog & fried my arms waiting for the awards which started an hour late.


Need more practice descending. Felt ok on the hills, managed to make up time on people in my wave there but still need more work. Just more mtb'ing in general to work on my skills and comfort level. My pace would've put me about 21/30 in the sport division although I think I'd do 1 or 2 more in the beginner cat until I'm more comfortable. The altitude also had me sucking wind quite a bit.


Turns out the guy I thought I was passing for 2nd must've been someone else because I ended up in second by about 3' (beat the jersey guy by about a minute). Overall I had a really fun time for my 1st mtb race - it was a fun experience actually racing for position as opposed to just going against myself for time like in most tris. The riding in general was fun, I found myself with a smile quite a few times and while the trails were within my skill level - nothing freaked me or or made me walk, riding them at that fast a speed pushed my comfort zone at times (mainly on the descents) which is a good thing. Some guys just tore past me & I'd love to figure out how they do that. And it's always fun to end a ride head to toe in mud.