Bloomer XC Race Spring 2008

photo by Tom Lining

by The Biz (not Bisquick)
Well here it is the first race of the season for me, it came up quicker then expected. The temperature was in the low 60’s and the week prior to the race had been warm and for the most part dry so the course should be good. I decided on a small gear for the race do to the trail setup lots of technical short climbs and not a lot of long fast sections.We lined up for the start of the Race the SS class in front; I was competeting against 7 others in my class. My plan was to hang back and pick them off 1 by 1 on the climbs. Here we go! I fall to the back of the pack and watch the group, I am in 7th out of 8 right now, we come to the first downhill and the group packs up, I now wait for the climb to come, we round the bottom of the downhill and I see the first climb two of the group in front of me are struggling on the climb so at the top I easily pass them I am now in 5th spot.I keep up a good pace and notice a friend of mine in front of me and decide to ride up to him, He is racing in the exp/elite SS class so I now I don’t need to pass him we work well together and catch the 4th place rider, we stay behind him using his draft and pass him on the next climb but he stays with us, we put some distance on him and ride away.At this point I am trying to catch the lead pack but never come in contact with them. My friend says to me “don’t look now, but he’s back” sure enough; he was right so now we are all 3 in a line. I know from the past encounter that I can take him on the climbs, we stay together mid way thru the 2nd lap where the climbs start and that is where I lose him, I look back to see him “pushing” his bike up the climb Ba Bye!
The last lap! Finally my legs are screaming, my back is sore and I am ready to be done. The 2 of us keep on going switching who is leading, no one in sight so we can just ride out the race and not worry too much about the competition. We make a last big effort to catch the pack but never see them, at this point we are encountering slower traffic from the beginner Classes and decide to finish the race where we are, I came in 4th in Sport/Beg. SS and My friend ended up 3rd in Exp/elite SS…..Great racing with a Friend!!
The Biz