Mansfield O-Cup #1 Race Report

Yesterday was my first race in Sr. Expert, and generally went better than expected. My result was better than expected (27/31) and I didn't bonk on lap 4 like I thought I might. I did manage to drop my chain 2 times that I had to get off and replace it, and wash out in a sandy corner on a doubletrack descent, surprisingly not hurting myself or my bike.

The race morning prep was quite a different routine of course, racing at 1:30 instead of 11:30. I couldn't just eat breakfast and race on that, so it meant preparing and eating a lunch type meal around 10:30-11:00. The in-race nutrition is also a little different - I knew drinking would be very important and I mixed myself a bottle per lap and arranged to have someone in the feed zone. Because I'd only drank a half bottle on the first lap I skipped my first feed but probably should have ditched my half bottle for a full one, as I may have paid for this later.

The start was not as furious as I had anticipated, and even from the back row I found myself solidly in the middle of the group on top of the climb and into the singletrack. I found a train of riders to go with for the first lap, though the faster ones were already riding away from me with no ability to respond.

On the tech climb I ran into traffic, catching a lot of the riders that had rode away from me - this provided a nice rest while waiting to walk up and put me in a good position for the rest of the lap. Lap 2 was similarly uneventful, losing a few positions still but riding well. When Justin came up to me I hopped on his wheel knowing he should generally be faster than I would pace myself alone. Overall that seemed like a pace I could hold, but he washed out on a couple loose sections and repeatedly had to chase back. The latter part of the lap he was riding smoothly and was great to pace behind. Up the start climb for lap 3 however, I could not hold his wheel any longer and let him go.

Lap 3 I found myself feeling the verge of cramping on the steep singletrack so I knew I would have to back off and count on riding smoothly and mostly in the saddle the rest of the race. I could climb all but the one rooty climb in the saddle, and did so choosing to run the last bit of that one to save my legs. The rest of lap 3 and 4 were spent trying to ride with good leg speed to keep the pace high enough, and simply trying not to cramp whenever things pointed up.

I managed to hold off Zoltan, my category-mate from Sport last year, by just over a minute which I was happy with.

There's definitely some lessons to be taken from this race, and overall I'm happy to be racing Expert. There was a brief consideration that if I went back to sport I could be quite competitive, but I am not really racing mtb for results, and these expert races will be far better training. Plus, should I get a little faster to stay in the mix, everyone I know seems to be in expert so I'll have some good folks to ride with as long as I can hold their wheels.

Next up, Albion...