Yesterday was the last race in the Indie Series mountain bike race collective here in the Northwest. It was time for the White River Revival. The day's racing went off under angry skies near Greenwater, in the shadows of Mount Rainier. All through the day on Saturday, the pouring rain had to have soaked the course, I thought, but too my surprise, the trails were near perfect on Sunday. The moisture made the traction tacky on the climbs and the roots slick in the crazy, winding single track. That proved good for me since a few new riders showed up that tend to spend more time 700c tires measured in millimeters than fat nobbies measured in inches. They just didn't have the skills to descend nor tackle the roots, but the climb was their forte' and that's where they got me. The White River course meanders along the river, through the woods then ramps up for four miles of climbing on a pretty nice forest service road. It then descends back to the river bottom for another go at a shorter lap. This year, they threw in a start loop that had a gnarly, steep climb lasting for about a quarter mile that was upwards of 15% at times followed by a high-speed super rocky descent that had you throttled before hitting the windy section.
I managed to pop out on to the climb in second place to find the first place guy, Vince Haag of Team Sega, the guy I was chasing for the Series Lead just up ahead with a slow leak flat. Out of curiosity, I waited for him, but his CO2 cartridge was giving him fits. Then, two chasers came out of the woods after me, so it was time to quit being nice. I gassed it (or what I thought was gassing it) and started the climb. I got caught a mile up the road by the Scotsman. The two of us worked together for another two miles. Then, the Scotsman said bu-bye and I was behind. Vince rolled up to me and we hung together. An un-timely nature call just before the descent put me a bit further back. No worries, I figured I could make time on the descent. Well, no luck there either. One bad turn found me upside down and about 10' below the trail in a heap tangled in a tree. I was ok, I just had to get back on the trail.
The rest of the race was a chase. I managed to catch one guy (the roadie) and got close to Vince. I later found out he nearly tacoed his front wheel. With some banging on a tree, he got it straight enough to ride in ahead of me. The Scotsman won the race with Vince in second and me in third. If I had taken Vince for at least the second place, I could have had the overall win in the series. We were only separated by two points going into today's finale. So, I got on the podium twice today. I got there with the Third place win for the day's racing and back up for second for the overall win.
Today was also a winning day for my nephew. He just got his training wheels off last week and he pulled out a second place in a tough kids race. It was technical. It had one turn in the out and back, bumpy, and potholed riddled course. He made us proud. He'll turn 5 in a month.
Maybe some of you guys will join us next year for the great racing in the Indie Series. Lots of fun and a great way to lead into cross.
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