Lots of Racing this Weekend: A Report from the Dirt Side

There was a lot of racing going on this year. I decided to forgo the Hillclimb in favor of one of the best races in the state of VA…the Middle Mountain Momma. It’s an epic battle between rider and gravity. The climb over the first mountain is about an hour of grinding away hoping that the next switchback brings you over the top…and even when you do hit that last switchback making the rise to the glorious descent is an effort that will shake even the strongest of minds. Once you crest Middle Mountain you’ve got a hair-raising descent of off camber singletrack that keep you glancing over the edge and hugging the mountain ever so slightly…and that’s just the first mountain.

Once you’ve completed the super sketchy final descent off of the first mountain you get to climb a steeper ascent to a ridge that is one of the cruelest experiences in mountain biking. Up up up, down down down, up, up, then finally down down down. It isn’t over until you complete 4 technical miles of false flat climbing with a final wet technical two minutes where you can launch off of roots into stream crossings all while yelling “ON YOUR LEFT” trying to pass the few stragglers left on the course.

MOUNTAIN BIKING AT ITS FINEST...

As far as my experience…it started off a little rough. Two weeks of some sort of sinus infection and a week of travel didn’t leave me feeling super strong but I was still able to fend off a few of my fellow racers and even reel in one or two guys in my category over the final few miles. This is probably my 4th time riding this race so I think course experience helped me out just a little bit. I wasn’t blistering up the climbs but I knew enough to keep the rubber side down, avoid tire flatting rocks, dodge the derailleur-eating stumps and leave just enough juice in the tank so I wasn’t stiff-legging it up the final punchy climbs.

CRC also had a great turnout for this event. Johanna, Luther, Fenton, Alec, Kyle & Fred were all out on the course tearing things up.

Up next…The Massanutten Hoo-Ha. June 1