Single Track Attack

I completed my fifth race of the season this past Sunday. The race was called the Single Track Attack and it was held at Hillside Park in Elk River, MN. I understand it was the first MNSCS race on this course. Overall, there were more than 360 riders with nearly 80 in the Citizen group. The course was fairly flat, very fast, and short. The entire race was eight miles for the Citizen class. I made four training rides to include the preride the day before. The course consisted of two sections with the first being much more technical than the second. I use the term technical with a grain of salt as there were very few obstacles and only slight climbs. During one of my training rides, I continued through sections three and four. Theses sections had many more obstacles and some very steep climbs. In fact, there were several sections where I had to get off of my bike and push uphill. This is the area the Sport riders race on so I hope to be doing this next year. Overall, the Sport race was 15.5 miles. Getting back to the Citizen race.........the course contained a half mile prologue to start. As I learned at the Chippewa Firecracker, it was critical to get as close to the front as possible prior to entering the single track. With this in mind I entered the single track in third place out of the 20 people starting in the fourth wave. I quickly passed one rider and found myself behind Tim Hieb. I tried for a bit to keep up with him but I had no chance. He has been much faster than me all year. Regardless, I was not passed the entire race and finished first in my category and 22nd out of the 79 Citizen racers. At the moment, I am the series leader for Citizen males between the age of 40-44. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I am in a class that has very few participants. Both of my wins have come with only one other rider in the field. If I can make the jump to Sport next year, I have noticed they have many more riders in my category. I will just have to work over the winter to make sure I can compete at that level. In the mean time, I am enjoying the Citizen level where I can learn the courses and the process of preparing for races. The next race is at Buck Hill. The course is private so I am unable to do training rides there. Instead, I have made one training ride in River Falls where they will host the WORS/MNSCS Border War. Nice track with a few hills and obstacles to keep you on your toes. See ya!

Chippewa Firecracker

I participated in the Chippewa Firecracker on the July 4th weekend and had a blast. The track is located in eau Claire Wisconsin. For the most part, it was a very fast race with a minimal number of climbs and descents. There were several technical obstacles to deal with in the form of logs, creeks, and rocks. The course was primarily single track with very few passing opportunities aside from the one mile of fire road on each lap. The race began with a sprint of a mile or more on the aforementioned fire road. I made the mistake of taking it easy at the start which I paid in the form of slow traffic later on. I entered the woods in the top 30 (out of 80 riders) but quickly found that some of the faster guys on the road were not capable of handling the obstacles. There was one point in which we came to a complete stop just before a two foot mound of dirt. I knew I was in trouble at that point. I felt like I had a great ride but came in 8th out of 20 in my class. This was a bummer as I was not passed the entire course. In fact, I passed between 9 and 12 riders so the end result was disappointing. Next year I will make a sprint for the front to make sure I do not get caught up in traffic. The course had some cool obstacles to include a steep descent on a large rock followed by fast single track into a steep climb. There was another area in which you could build up speed and launch into a rock trail at the end of a steep climb. I bailed during my first practice run but made it the rest of the time. All-in-all it was a fun race and I look forward to returning next year.