Sundance XC Race |
|
I was out in Park City this week and Todd Lindemann
invited me to race over at Sundance. Sundance is about 45 minutes
east of PC. The race was a weekly Wednesday night series that
rotates between Soldier's Hollow (where '02 Olympic XC Skiing events took
place) and Sundance (property owned by Robert Redford). The course: Sundance is a DH Ski venue so its all up and down. It started out on pavement for about 1/4 mile climbing to singletrack. The rest of 4 mile lap was all singletrack through birch tree's. It felt like we were on switchback after switchback. The most difficult part of this race is the tree's are full of foilage and grass is really tall. You forget about how far the tree's are spaced out in CA and that there is very little ground cover. In other words, you can see for miles when racing here and you can only see about 10 ft in front of you there. The race: Todd and I arrive at 6:20, the race starts at 6:30. So I now have 10 minutes to get dressed, registered, and warmed up. Oh yeah and to take a leak. Well lets just say, I make it to the line and getting to it was my warm up. The race is low key and has everybody taking off in a pack with experts on the front line, sports next, follow by beginners. The race is going to be short, 3 laps for expert men, 2 for sports & expert women, 1 for beginners. We take off and I shoot out only to feel like I am going to blow up by the singletrack. My heart starts pounding out of my chest and I feel like I am going to throw up. Since I hadn't preridden I had no idea what to expect. I overshoot a corner and end up going down on a climb. Urrgh, a few people get by as I get regrouped. Then a short while later I go down again. Okay relax and find a rythmn. Todd is right behind me and I let him pass. I finally find a rythmn and keep Todd in sight. I slowly work my way back to him and pass a few others, he stumbles on a switchback climb and I go by. The course turns downwards and I catch a person but can't get by, by the time I do Todd is right behind me. Then I catch an expert woman but can't get by her, urrgh. Oh well we have to be getting to the bottom and she weighs about 100 pounds, chances are she can out climb me. Sure enough we hit the pavement (expert lady, Todd, and myself). I turn to expert lady and say, "Well it isn't like I was going to outclimb you anyway." She smiles and we race off leaving Todd looking for a climbing gear. I hang with Expert lady on the climb but she puts a little distance on me, maybe 25 yards. As we start heading down, I catch her quickly and she asks me which side I would like to pass. She lets me by, key to this was my polite words to her at the bottom. Always compliment a woman, it will always be to your benefit. I make it to the bottom as the 4 or 5th Sport rider out of about 20. Todd finishes about a minute later in 5th or 6th. Notes: Sundance's base is at about 7,000 ft. This was my first race on my Blur. Not a fast climber but it does like to be turned downward. This week in PC was the Road National Championships. I watches about 5 minutes but spent most of my time hanging out with the family and doing some great rides. I definetly encourage everyone to get out to PC. I did a few stages of the E100, now that would be a fun 100 mile race. Almost 100% singletrack. I did run into 1 'bella who was competing in the US Nationals. She was out on a ride one day fixing a flat. Dave |
Schedule | Results | Sponsors | Profiles | Advocacy | ContactProblems, comments or content, contact the webadmin |
