Posting results (if you have them) would be cool too
I start...
As some know, I started racing mountain bikes locally since this July or so. I'm not a pro and I'm not trying to be one since I'm like 6kph too slow to become a pro, I'm just like at 70% and the following 30% is just plain HUGE so getting to be a pro is highly unlikely
This sunday I had a race in a town near me. I was expecting it to be the typical local race with a few semi-pros, some amateurs and a few locals. I kinda got surprised when I went to the place for confirming you're racing and for getting your number and I saw something like 250 people prepared to ride and around 100 more already with their numbers. I've never been in such a big race when it comes to entries. Luckily, the numbers and the starting position was determined by the order of sign up and I had the 137.
After a looong wait I finally confirmed my presence, got my number, the "thing" (does it have a name??) for scoring and I got to the start straight. IT WAS THE FUCKING LONGEST STARTING GRID I'VE EVER SEEN. The paved street was kinda narrow and there were like 6-7 bikes per line. There were over 50 lines of riders since we got to 379 riders.
My heart was beating like crazy way even before the start so by the time I got under the starting line (like 100m after I started) I was quite tired and damn nervous. Thank God the organizers knew we were going to be a lot lot riders and the race started with a 3km section on a closed highway, I think there weren't any crashes at the start.
By the time I got to the gravel road (still quite wide) I was around 35th or so. I think I pushed myself too much because I wanted to get rid of the nerves and the crazy amount of people behind me. I was riding single file when I got to a narrower gravel trial and started climbing. The first climb was a complete disaster to me, I didn't study the altitude profile much and the push on the paved section made me drop like 20 spots in 2-3km going uphill.
To be honest, I was quite down but I didn't quit since I wasn't passed by any rider that looked to be 23 or less. Gradually, I got to my rythmn and started riding just in the top 50 (personal scoring, I didn't have any true reference). The course was quite cool, combining narrow and wide hard-pack trails. Things sometimes got quite wild when there was single-trail uphills (traffic jams, people trying to overtake going completely offroad, etc).
By the 13km more or less the course reached its highest point through a single-trail and then went downhill and a little bit wider. First I was calmed but then I started seeing dozens and dozens of rocks. Riders started going a lot slower so I decided to kinda take the risk and avoided thinking about my own safety for a few minutes. The result was quite good, I overtook around 10-15 riders and I didn't wear myself out absorbing the bumps. Best thing?? There was a U-23 rider (local, maybe closer to 18 than to 23) riding on the group I passed.
The next section was quite wide and comfortable. I got hooked with 3 more riders and started drafting them. The oldest guy (48 or so, quite fast for his age) invited me to take the lead of the group a few times but I didn't have enough speed in that kind of trail so I just always went 2nd-3rd in the group.
A new big climb started on the halfway point more or less (22km out of 45km). The little group I was in quickly disappeared. This long climb (4-5km) let me pass some riders... and I was passed by 2 or 3 riders too, I think at the end I was +3 or +4 and going approximately 25th overall (who knows my position in U-23 class). That hill was quite good for me because the trail was wide and bumpy and I've been quite good choosing my lines since my enduro racing years.
The following downhill was awkward for me. It was really technical but I didn't pass anyone, I wasn't passed and I only saw the guy in front me like once. The downhill ended with a huge slope in a wide clean gravel road and I reached constant 70-73kph even I was always with my hands on the brake levers (I don't want to go like 90kph in a gravel road, I race for racing, not for killing myself).
The following section (34km) was weird to say the least. The race went into a quarry (like 7 hairpins to reach the bottom), around the quarry, through some tunnel and out to a normal trail again. Watching many riders at once was kinda cool and there was like 40-50 people watching but, seriously, that was the weirdest thing I've ever done when racing. Btw, that was the first time I rode inside a tunnel for a minute or two. At least I passed a rider that had tyre problems, another one that seemed to run out of energy and catched up with a group of 3, including some guy that looked to be U-23 and a damn girl (how could she be that fast!?).
I was also kinda running out of energy so I decided to stay with them for the next part. My idea was to stay with them and only pass them if my rythmn was high enough to pass them without pushing, that didn't happen. I knew the total race distance was around 45km so I decided to attack them with 3km to go on a steep short climb. Things went great, I put like 30secs in 700m but that wasn't the end of the tough parts. Some flat/almost flat section, hairpin right and the holy mother of all "walls" in front of me. I don't know the exact numbers but I'm quite sure I lost over a minute in 500m, I completely ran out of energy.
After that wall there was only a descent with a few turns (the street was straight but they made us do a few 90º turns to avoid getting too much speed) and a stadium-like section in a esplanade. My estimated finishing position was 20th.
Reality??
· TOTAL RACE TIME : 2h 48' 37"
· POSITION : 27th overall, 5th in class
· TIME BEHIND CLASS LEADER : 8' 42" (the dude was 8th overall)
· TIME BEHIND CLASS PODIUM FINISH : 4' 27"
Conclussion??
Happy with the overall result, damn tired, but incredibly mad at myself for the start and the finish. Going just inside the top 50 before the first section on gravel would have been more than enough, I didn't have to push that far. Also, I didn't really study the altitude profile so I did a ton of strategic mistakes, including the one close to the finish line and more all over the course. At least my bike was the cheapest inside the top 5 of the U-23 class
