I was pretty excited when I first found out about the 40 mile mountain bike enduro that was to take place in July in Lory State Park, just west of Fort Collins. It’s a first time event, and I took advantage of the early registration in March to snag one of the 150 coveted entries.

Oddly enough, the northern Front Range has been receiving plenty of liquid water from Mother Nature this spring and early summer, so the night before the race there was rumor that it might be canceled due to overly wet trails – unheard of in Colorado! Fortunately, the night before the event, the rains held off and the race was a go.

 

The Open and Single Speed group toed the line at 7AM sharp, and after a couple of misfires of the starting pistol, we were off. And immediately MAN DOWN! I’m not sure what happened, but it nicely split the field right from the get go. This was a nice advantage considering the route quickly funneled us onto the Timber Trail, a 1.5 mile climb on narrow single track – not a lot of passing options. A quick head count reveled that I made the turn into the single track in about 20^th position, just in front of middle. I thought that was a reasonable place to be. The route consisted of one major climb, along with this warm up and a couple more small ones later in the course. I didn’t want to go into Mill Creek/Towers Road already blown out and smoking.

 

As predicted, much of the Mill Creek climb was unrideable, so several hike-a-bikes were in order. The steep section of Tower’s road must be around 20% and the front end of the bike dances around and can cause one to get off course if one is not cautious. The second to last steep part before the peak was labeled with a sign reading “Bacon Hill” and sure enough there were some folks grilling up bacon and serving Coke for any rider daring enough to entertain the thought. Since my lungs were about to come out of my throat, I thought I had better refrain.

 

At the mile 10 aid station at the turn off to Spring Creek trail I quickly filled a bottle with HEED and grabbed a gel pack before embarking on the fast, technical descent. There is no relaxing on these trails, and as one teammate said after riding a training lap “someone’s going to go home in a helicopter!”. Coming over the little climb on Herrington trail I spotted Big Greg Scanlon and a couple of other riders ahead, who I figured were sitting about 15^th thru 18^th position. I felt like I should be able to close the gap on them. I chased hard all through the descent and was a little nervous for the Sawmill trail, as this is the gnarliest technical section of all. I was surprised that it raced quite well and I made it through without any close calls. The long section thru the Lory Valley contains some very nice, smooth trail, yet you cant relax because it snakes all around with a number of off camber corners that will throw you into the weeds. This section was also pretty wet from the recent rains. By the time we made it to the Start/Finish area I was surprised to see that only two hours and five minutes had ellapsed. I had passed about 3 people suffering mechanicals, so thought that I should be in about 15^th place based on previous data from some spectators hanging out in the technical sections.

 

I was feeling pretty good at this point and felt like I could do the second lap at the same pace since I road the climbs a little on the conservative side during the first lap. I started having those thoughts of “just don’t flat” and “just don’t crash”, “things are going great”, etc. Well of course that is the curse of the Devil.

 

On the Mill Creek climb, just as I was putting some good time into a couple of guys that had been on my tail for a while, my low granny gear decided to throw the chain over the big sprocket into the spokes! Fortunately, I acted quickly and did not mash down on the crank arms, sparing my drive train and wheel from a complete mangling. It’s funny how the clock seems to speed up when you jump off your bike to repair a problem while your heart rate is pegged to the roof. After getting everything back in order without being passed, I remounted and headed off.

 

My next thought was “well, that could have been worse” and then what happens – my rear wheel snags a rock and starts loosing air! I pull over and get the tools out. Fortune is on my side again, and the Stans sealant does the trick to seal up the small puncture. After a total of maybe five minutes down time due to the two mechanicals, and being overtaken by three racers, I’m on my way again. Unfortunately, the sting had been taken out of my bite, and I had trouble really pushing myself up the Towers Road climb – but maybe that’s just because it’s so freaking hard!

 

At this point, I was riding with Thomas Borch from Peloton Cycling, who had suffered a flat earlier, and was also in need of a little motivation. Soon thereafter, I started feeling good again and really went for it on the gravely Stout trail descent. Not the smartest move, as my front tire lost traction and slid out and I did a Super Man over the bike and across the ground. Fortunately, I sustained no real injuries and I was back and riding again in no time. Just after this, Thomas and I caught and passed a cramping Greg Scanlon. Big T was starting to fade a little along Loggers trail, so I put the screws to him and lost him down Sawmill. I continued to make good time around the rest of the course. although the light uphill grade on the South Valley trail began to feel like some major climbing after all the previous effort.

 

Finally, with a fist pump and a smile on my face, I rolled across the line 15^th overall in the Open division, with a time of 4:19:53, much faster than the five hours that I had predicted to a friend. It turns out that the 14^th place guy was only 42 seconds in front of me, while 13^th was less than 2 minutes up. I believe I would have reeled them in given a little more territory and certainly would have been in front without the mechanicals. But then again, there were a lot of people suffering mechanicals, and I’m just glad that mine were so minor. Overall I am reasonably happy with the result and look forward to the next big challenge at the B68 on July 16.