Topham Racing

I wanted to win this race for a million different reasons. I have had a great season, and finishing it up with a win would make it even better. It was also going to be my last sport race for a while, so who knows if I will ever have a chance to win another race. Lastly, I needed to make up for a pretty poor showing last week and convince myself that all the races I won this year weren’t just flukes.

You can never count on anything in mountain bike racing, however, especially in in our group. At this point in the season there is very little difference in overall fitness, and any of the fast guys have a chance to win on any given day. I knew Stan, Keith and Jason would all be trying to win.

After a mild panic at the start when half of us lined up in the wrong row, we were off and running. Like most days, I went as hard as I could to make it to the singletrack first. Once on the singletrack, I spent a couple of minutes recovering before the long service road climb. I could tell Stan was right on my wheel, but it sounded like we had a little bit of a gap on the rest of the group. Once we got to the service road, Stan pulled ahead and I followed him. Stan and I pre-rode the course on Wednesday and, living nearby, he knows the course better than any of us, so I figured following him was a pretty good idea. As we neared the top of the service road climb, however, Stan started to fade slightly and I got by legs back. I saw about three or four riders between us and the turn onto Ambush. I started pedaling and tried to pass as many of them as I could.

So I found myself in first at the top of the first lap, but I knew Stan, Jason and Keith couldn’t be too far back. I tried to ride the long descent as fast as I could, but let’s face it, I am not Steve Pete and I already had one high speed crash this year. I must have been going 20 mph or so when I heard a rider ask to pass on the left. I could tell he wasn’t in our group, so I let him by. He was flying–I could tell he was out of control. About 20 seconds later, he locked up his front brake, launched himself off the trail and disappeared into the trees below. The sight of this shook me up just a little. I eased up just a bit, and it was enough to let Jason and Keith catch up. As we neared the end of the first lap, I could see them closing on me. Keith even started to talk a little trash, which was great.

After the turn, I found some energy again and rode the second lap without incident. I was able to cross the finish line about 40 seconds ahead of Keith. Jason followed in third, and Stan ended up fifth. It was a good solid race–my sixth win of the year.

I also completed my three year goal of winning the points race and the Sport Men 40+ overall championship. I had come close in years past, but Jay, Kevin and Brad were faster than I was. This year I worked a little harder, and I just tried to make sure I was in the hunt every week.

I am going to miss the gang next year (assuming I can’t talk them into moving up with me), but I look forward to watching Keith, Jason, Jonas, Stan, Vern and Geno battle it out for the title. Any of them can take it, and I wouldn’t even want to guess who has the best shot. Of course there will be new people moving into the group too, so who knows. I am also going to look forward to racing with Kevin, John and Daren next year. I don’t expect to beat them, but at least I will finally know how much faster they really are. At least some portion of the faster lap times has got to be due to fewer people to pass, right?

It could have been the jet lag, or the three pounds I gained easting French pastries and drinking English beer, or the fact that I didn’t have a chance to pre-ride this rather difficult course. Despite all these things, I actually felt pretty good for a lap and a half.

Mike, the fast guy from Solitude, was back for another go. Keith, Stan and Jason were there too. Overall, however, it was a pretty low turnout, and Vern and Jonas were noticeably absent.

Mike, Stan and I all went out pretty fast. Mike and Stan both passed me before the singletrack. Stan was once again proving that he gets faster than the rest of us by the end of the season. Unfortunately it didn’t last, and Stan had some mechanical difficulties on the second lap. I passed him and found myself in second place. But Keith and Jason were right on my tail.

Somewhere in the middle of the second lap, I bonked. It was pretty ugly. I could barely keep the bike on the trail. I started to recover after five minutes or so, which was soon enough to keep Stan from catching me, but Keith and Jason left me in the dust to take second and third, respectively. So I ended up in fourth place, or the Tweety Chair as it is known to ICup regulars, for the first time this season. Stan was able to salvage fifth, even though he should have taken second and I should have been fifth.

It wasn’t my worst showing of the year though, having taken fifth at both Cholla and Soldier Hollow. The truth is I felt pretty good about the result with all the traveling and time off the bike. One more race at the Canyons next week and we are done for the year. Time flies.

I had never done better than 4th place in the Utah Open. Solitude is clearly one of the most demanding courses of the whole year, and I guess that is why they decided to give it a little more prestige than the other races by calling it the Utah Open. This extra prestige tends to bring out more riders, however, so it is always a pretty tough race.

I got lucky again today. A pretty fast newcomer had some problems on the first descent and let me by. Vern got a flat. Geno and Keith were no-shows. Jason was recovering from a head cold, and Stan–well I don’t know exactly what happened to Stan, but someone said he had a mechanical issue. That left me and Jonas. I looked back as I started the Queen Bess switchbacks for the second time. I could see Jonas was just a little ways behind. I just tried to make sure there was always one rider in between us, and I focused on the climb. Once I made it to the top, I just focused on not crashing. Lots of riders crashed today. Fortunately I wasn’t one of them, but I was almost a little too conservative. Jonas crossed the finish line just four seconds behind me giving him his best finish to date. With that boost of confidence, he will probably win a race one of these days.

So I officially get to claim the title of Utah Open State Champion 2010. I even got a fancy medal to prove it. I guess it is one more thing I can look back on when I remember my best season of racing. Brad and I used to talk about how much fun our group was and wonder whether it would be as much fun to move up. Sadly, I think I know the answer.

I am really looking forward to a couple of weeks off the bike after racing and training really hard since May 1st. I am looking forward to sipping Bordeaux and eating Pain au chocolat along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, and imagining what it will be like in a couple of weeks when the Tour comes in. It will be a nice break before Snow Basin.