I am still cold from this race. My truck said it was 42 degrees when I pulled into the parking lot, but I think it was even colder than that. You don’t really expect to have to wear long pants a turtle neck and a jacket on June 7th, but that was the kind of day it was.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to do going into this race. I felt like my second and first place finishes at Draper and Sundance last week really took a toll on me. I didn’t feel 100% all week; but, during warm up this morning I actually felt ok. At the starting line, Ed shortened the laps for pretty much every group. Our group went from 2 laps to a lap and a half. This probably worked against me a little, but given the kind of day it was, I wasn’t going to complain.
I went with my normal game plan of trying to jump out in front and stay there as long as possible. The first lap went pretty well, but I didn’t manage to put any distance (or bodies) between me, Jay and the rest of the group. We took it pretty easy on the descents. It was just muddy enough to be a little bit dangerous, and I wasn’t going to go faster than I needed to. At one point I asked Jay if I was holding him up. He said, “Not right now.”
We finished the full lap and started up the hill again. I don’t remember Jay passing me, but as we crossed the first section of singletrack, I noticed he was in front of me. I quickly passed him to regain the lead, but my legs were starting to fade a little. He passed me again before we got to the Little Stick climb from hell. I really thought I could catch him on Little Stick, but I couldn’t.
Then something really bad happened. Someone else with a blue tag passed me just before we got to the top of the hill. Later I learned that his name was Rich Caramadre. I hadn’t seen him around before.
So I was in third. I hadn’t been in third place at any time in any race since Solider Hollow. Fortunately, a slow rider and the mud kept Caramadre from getting too far ahead of me. When we hit the next climb I was able to pass him and put at least one rider between us.
The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I was unable to catch up to Jay, but I rode the last 1/2 mile as hard as I could to make sure Caramadre didn’t catch me. At some point I cut a corner a little to close and a tree sliced my ear open. I didn’t realize it until after the race when people told me my ear was bleeding.
All in all, I was fairly pleased with second place. After a race like I had las week at Sundance, you start to wonder why you don’t win every race. Days like this one at Deer Valley remind you why you don’t win every week–especially not two races back to back. It is because it is hard to win these races. They take a toll on your body and your mind, and if both aren’t 100% on race day, you aren’t going to win. If that isn’t enough, the weather and your equipment give you more to worry about. Check out Keith Payne’s blog for an example of the latter.
The next race isn’t until July 5th at Solitude. I’m looking forward to a break. It has been a pretty grueling six weeks since 5 Mile Pass. I think it is time to spend a few days off the bike.
One final note about the Deer Valley race. I noticed someone familiar at the starting line, but I didn’t immediately put a name with the face. It turns out it was Stan Kanarowski. I have met Stan several times through work. He ended up taking 5th place, which is amazing given that he claims to have very little mountain bike experience. We will hope to see Stan at more of the races.