Leavenworth MTB Race Report

More than a week has gone by since our fun race in Leavenworth. Dan
Wren and I piled into the car at 6:30 am to make the 10:30 start for
the sport division. We went in "Green" style with an extra passenger
in Mike Rolcyk from Second Ascent. Carpooling really is fun! The
weather was dreary on the West side of the mountains, but opened up
for a sunny day on the East side of the mountains. Temps in the 60's
to 70's made for great racing.

For those of you that don't know the course, it goes something like
this: Climb 4 miles, go for about a quarter mile on flat then descend
for four miles while navigating huge water bars and two creek
crossing, turn left at the bottom and do it again. Sport class did
two laps, the experts did three, and if you are Dan Wren in 2007, you
did 4 laps. That's another story, but let's just say the parking lot
was empty when Dan finished his race last year.

Anyway, it is more fun than it sounds. The climbing is a mix of dirt
road, single and double tracks. It isn't super steep, it just goes
forever. Like all mountain bike races, the start is important. I
managed to get away with 4 other riders and hung on to them for half
the climb. I slid back a little, but as soon as the descent came up,
I passed a bunch of folks and stayed upright. There were several
crashes this year resulting in one rider getting an ambulance ride out.

My second time up the climb was OK, but I wasn't staying on pace that
well. I caught one rider right at the end of the race and I thought I
nabbed him at the line to move up a spot. I thought I sprinted for
5th, I guess I got 6th. Where is the finish line in a mountain bike
race anyway? Interesting side note is that my overall time was only
off by about 30 - 45 seconds over last year and I got 2nd in my
division. Guess the field is getting faster.

Mike had a great day, he won the expert 35 - 45 group. Dan didn't
have as good of a day. He DNF-ed due to a painful nerve problem in
one of his feet and he said he just didn't have it. Well, good thing
is we weren't the last out of the parking lot and Dan drove making my
day easy. Can't complain there. And did you know that Dan's kids are
super cute? I'll let him tell that side of the story.


Matt