Soldier Hollow Race

 One of my favorite parts of playing sports as a kid, was the morning of. You wake up a little early with a minor Christmas like excitement. The morning air is cool, crisp and still. Often there is a morning mist lingering above the hills. As a kid we all probably have memories of jogging before a soccer game, or watching the chalk lines getting laid down before a baseball game. For us bikers, we have the first view of our steeds!
The cleaning of our bike, the lube job on the chain, the shake-rattle and roll check. This is followed by the first easy pedaling to check all the mechanical systems of the bike and the physical systems of we the racer; all the while the sun rises higher, the mist burns off and the temp rises to que the start of the race! You gotta love it! It's one of the sweetest parts of the experience. No matter what happen, during the race, we all get to share this time.
The Soldier Hollow course is at the same venue as the Olympic XC Ski event. But the location has never been really popular as a biking location. But with all the amazing trails very near this place, it's understandable. So instead of a nice buff singletrack, the trails often are overgrown with mountain grass. This slows down the climbs somewhat and leads to rider complaints.

But some new trail work had been done this year building a whole new DH singletrack. So we'll see how it goes.

Today I had to ride a demo Epic since my ride was still waiting for a new shock from SRAM. Better that bike than none at all.
For some reason, the racers just don't turn out for this one. What's left are the "hardcore's", which mean fast times and an intense pace.

 At the line we had a smaller group than normal, but they were all FAST riders. When we heard "GO!" It was one of the fastest starts I had seen this year. I had a hard time staying with the group. As with last week, we had a paved road start, but less of climb so the sprint was crazy!
I realized very quickly, I was going to have to just run my own pace and hope to catch a tired rider or maybe a mechanical. Like we all say, "we're there for fun...right?"
I tried to just keep the main group in site, but I just didn't feel so great out there. The legs didn't have the same spring to them today. I had realized that to really compete in Cat 2 I needed more time in the saddle, so I had started commuting to work on my bike. Many more miles during the week and I don't think my body has adjusted yet to the bigger load of work. I was actually being caught and passed by the SM 19-29 group. I decided to fall in behind this group and get paced. This worked pretty good until I reached the forever switchbacks about 1/3 into lap one. Normally, I was really strong through sections like this and can attack, but today it wasn't happening so I just tried to keep pace.

 One of the really nice things of this course is all the passing room. Even on the switchbacks there was always some grass on the uphill side to pass or allow to pass. The top is a welcome site as you finally get into a long DH recovery. But you are forced to check your speed frequently as there are many turns hidden just behind a tree.
Partway down I passed by Richard standing up dusting himself off. I was going by way too fast to get a report but I called out "OH NO RICHARD!" He knows that I'm trying to be supportive.
I keep hearing all the arguments about a 26 vs 29 wheel. Well, I blast past guys on the DH who are riding 26 with my 29. Gotta love the zero calorie pass!

Some more tight turns brings us to a wide grassy meadow on a hill side as we head through to the lap pass.
I spotted Richard standing at the top of the pavement with his bike. He had walked down and taken a DNF. We are still waiting for official word but he may have broken his clavicle in an endo. Not cool!
Headed back up the grassy climbs, a rider from the group behind me caught up.

 We exchanged leading for a couple miles up the initial climb to the first DH. I blasted past him with very little effort; man I love the 29 wheels! But I was quite tired by this point so on the next steady climb, I was caught again. This was a weird day for me. I normally just hang on in the DH but attack on the climbs. But today I felt totally reversed, but I tried to deal with it.

 My real worry the entire time during lap two was whether of not I would get cramps again. I had put in the extra miles this week in part to get used to it. But I also downed a banana a day. I started to feel little twinges the whole time up the switchbacks and I got worried. This slowed me down some more. I thought if I pulled back some maybe it would hold off. The cramps didn't come, but mentally it hurt. I'm going to have to train my way through this. Learning to ride in Cat 2 is hard work.

 I stayed with the rider now ahead of me the best I could, but he was working hard to catch another rider and he was able to drop me by the summit. Maybe I would catch him on the DH though. But on this DH I decided to just hold on to what I had earned. The grassy field was a welcome sight. I was really tired today and ready for the finish.

 Crossing the line, I knew I had gotten a ribbon (my first one in Cat 2) but I didn't feel really good about it. Not only had I rode a crappy race. But my friend had crashed bad and might be out for a while. This is not how I wanted to get it.

Rick: A few more guys were present today in Rick's Cat. He was able to get 3rd. If I can get more details from him, I will start adding them to my report.