Root 66 Race Series, Mt Snow, Trail of Two Lakes

Race Report for Mt Snow, Trail of Two Lakes, 9/20/2009


This was the most exiting race of the year!!!

Weather: Could not be better!

Course description: Third time this season for racing Mt Snow, w/ the first two resulting in a lot of bitching from racers (incl me). None too happy to be back at Snow for the season finally, but got there on Sat to pre ride, as they supposedly had redesigned the course somewhat. Lo and behold, course was awesome! Dry…I have to say that one again…dry. I feel like Homer Simpson, saying donuts... Climbing was done on the access roads all the way up (+- 2K feet I believe). Steep and loose but all rideable. At the top, the course shot into some really twisty gnarly singletrack, the likes I have not seen yet this season. Some sections were long sections of just roots. The tires would not touch dirt for yards. Then there were rocks, lots of them, big and sharp ones, with the course actually being in a dried up stream bed. Somehow though, it all had some great flow to it. The downhill being so dry allowed for a superfast and fun descending. The speed did add some good adrenaline, for if you screwed up, you were going to be in a world of hurt.

We had to do two laps. Turnout was low, but the usual faces were there, including the guy who beat me at the first Mt Snow. He took off pretty fast and I had to give it all to stay w/ him. Half way up the first lap I was really struggling to keep to his wheel but I really did not want to let him go. I was hoping he was riding faster than he could sustain w/ me on his wheel and that he would blow up on the second lap. Though at that pace, I was pretty sure I was going to blow up on the second one too. He had created a little gap by the top, but I caught back to him pretty quickly on the downhill. It seemed I was faster on the down, so my goal became to stick to him going back up, and pass him just before entering the downhill section and try to drop him. As we started going up the second time around, he seemed to be struggling just a bit so I passed him but could not drop him. Soon he had me passed again, but was not dropping me. As we neared the top, I screwed up over some rocks and had to dismount which gave him quite a big gap. He entered the downhill section way before me. So much for my very clever plan! I was able to catch back up and half way down found a section to pass him. I flew down, completely out of control to try to gap him. He stuck to me though and to my great frustration, slowly passed me again on an uphill section 20 yards before the finish. As he crested the top and turned to go down toward the finish, he took it wide, and I was able to cut to the inside and gave it everything I had left! I came in first by a bike length.