Bloomer XC

I raced the Bloomer Park XC this afternoon. The race went about how I expected, but I was a little surprised by my result. I ended up 6th out 12 (I thought I would do worse).


It's too soon (and too boring) to go through the blow-by-blow, but here's what worked and what didn't for me:

• For finishing in the region of the field where I'm finishing (mid pack or lower), there's no reason for me to go out really hard at the start. What separates me from the fast Sport guys is, in large part, technical ability. What separates me from the slower guys is fitness. I can let the slower guys go out hard and come back to me later in the race.
• I experimented with locking out my fork on the sledding hill climb. It seemed to work well, so I need to consider doing this more often.
• Don't try to pass a little "off trail" unless you're sure you won't hit anything and absolutely can't wait. I attempted a pass like this early in my third lap, and I ended up hitting some more substantial brush than I expected, which effectively stopped me and also caused my chain to drop. Had I waited 20 seconds or so longer, the trail opened back up into a hard little climb, and I would have been easily able to pass there (I thought we were on a much longer section of singletrack). I did apologize to the guy when I finally did pass him; not that I screwed up his race, but I felt like a jerk for my earlier move.
• I need to practice the big switchbacks at Bloomer if I'm going to race there again (I suppose it would be good for me to practice anyway). I never cleaned the first two corners in my pre-rides, so I ran them in the race. It wasn't a big deal to run, but I'm guessing I lost 30s or so each lap. That being said, running was the correct decision for today, it's much faster than crashing.
• I felt reasonably good in the tight singletrack; I know I need to go faster, but I rode about as well as I ride today. Early in the race, I was keeping up with the faster guys, but you could see the gap open when we descended and on the flat twisty parts; I was only staying on their wheels by climbing faster. (Consider that as wasted energy, or at least mis-used energy; it's much more efficient to carry more speed into the hill.)
• My strategy of going really hard on the flats worked, and probably salvaged my race result. I was able to pass a lot of guys on the flat sections, particularly those following climbs.
  

The luv2mtb guy has pictures up already... wow, that's quick!