Yesterday was the Howell Mtn Challenge. This race is put on by the same people who do the NVDC. It's at the same venue, as well. $30 pre-reg includes a good shirt and water bottle. Not bad.

I drove up the morning of the race. The weather was outstanding. Not hot at all. Nice and cool up until race time. The course is great. A 9-mile course that is a mile or so away from the start finish, so the total mileage was just over 21 miles for Sport racers. Lots of singletrack. Probably 50% of the mileage, 2/3 of the time. Seems like the whole race is in the trees. The course covers a lot of the NVDC course, but they don't do the long climb back. That's not to say there wasn't any climbing. There was, but there wasn't any real gut busters or long, extended, exposed climbs that will sap a lot of energy. Only one hike-a-bike of about 2-3 minutes. This is a fine singlespeed course. It's fairly well-attended, as well. Lot's of female racers, I noticed. It's worthy of "team race" status, no doubt.

Race started only about 5 minutes late. The wave I was in (Sport 27-34, 35-44, 45+) went off 4th. Can't tell for sure who is 35-44. I was in the second row of 3, about 34 racers. My plan was to keep the HR down for a good while, since my poorest results occur because I blow within the first 30 minutes (Boggs).

Bang! First 1/4 mile is uphill on pavement. I stand on the pedals in the big ring, but am letting gravity do most of the work. Wow. I pass most of the first row and hit the dirt around 10th in the wave. I decide to stay out of the saddle until the first little descent. Pass another on the descent, hit the sunny flat 2-track, sit down and relax. HR is about 175, way under max. So far so good.

We hit the first little climb in the trees. I decide to sit for this one. At the top, fling it back on the big ring and stand, again letting gravity do most of the work. Relax. Flat, wide trail (not a road though). Right before we arrive at the airport, it gets really hard to see. There is a layer of very fine dirt on the surface, kicked up in the air by the riders in front of me. I have to get on the brakes a little just so I don't override my field of vision. Break out of trees at the airport, sit down into semi-aero tuck and try to maintain speed. HR still under control. Go by little lake on the right. Headwind. Have to remember that for later.

Back into woods, on singletrack that occasionally widens out. Downhill, flat, uphill, downhill, flat. Pattern holds for 3-4 minutes. Up and down sections are short. Stay in big ring. I've lost sight of the rider in front of me (10-second gap or less), so now I have to pay more attention to the course markers. Hit bottom of this section, enter woods and twisty singletrack climb, all middle ring. Very fun. HR up a little, but still well-below redline and I'm feeling good. Let one guy go past. Fine with me, I'll let him pick out the markers. Another guy goes by just before the top. I'm staying on this guy's wheel. At the top we ride on about 1/4 mile double track, then a relatively sharp left into the singletrack again. We're both carrying a lot of speed down the 2-track. Crap! Here's the turn. Grab a lot of brake, lock-up. Guy in front overshoots a little, loses control and goes over the bars. Not too bad, really. Soft landing, with one leg able to control the impact. He's on the ground though and I go by asking if he's OK. He grunts. He's angry, not hurt. I keep going.

Singletrack descent through the trees. Two hairpins. Fun. I recognize this from the NVDC. Shoots out onto dirt road at the bottom. At least one rider right behind me. We ramp back up to speed and catch a couple others. Left turn, uphill. Back into middle ring, low gear. Pass another racer. First female pro/elite/expert I've seen. Make it to top fine. Right turn, singletrack descent. Another fun section. Bottom, right turn, uphill. Looks longer. Middle ring, number three cog, two, then one. Caught another rider on the climb. Feeling a little winded. HR too high. Reach the top, throw it in the big ring, stand and relax. Flat 2-track for about 1/4 mile. Relax. Right turn, twisty singletrack descent. Like it. Hit the bottom and come to a nice series of 2-track rollers. Right turn. Sharp uphill. Gear down, arrgh. Hike-a-Bike. Pass another female. What's this? Someone riding it pass me. He almost made it to about ten yards to the top. I say "Good Job". He turns around and says "Thanks, I thought I'd give it a try". I reach the top and make an effort to catch him. Success. Pass someone in between. Decide to follow this guy for a while.

Big ring, flat section. Ooops! Grab fistfull of brake. Lock up. Sharp right turn. Dang! Pitch too steep, I'm in the wrong gear. Leader-dude says he sorry for not seeing that coming. Off the bike, push about 20 yards. Back on for what turns out to be the longest climbing section of the course. Small ring mostly, with some middle ring. No extreme angles, just sort of long. We head back towards the airport for lap 2. What the? The guy who went over the bars is back. Turns out he's a teammate of the guy I'm following. I say "Dude! You're back. Way to go." These guys are pretty good and fairly nice. So I hang with them for most of the rest of the race.

Second lap was smooth. I just wanted to hang with these guys, tuck into draft on flat headwind spots. We were reeling in some people, starting to lap the beginners. I started to blowup on the long climb. I had to rev back some, I lost those guys with about 10 minutes to go. I pass one more guy right before the finish line. Right then, I'm feeling good about the race. I don't know how I did, but I didn't blow until about the 19-mile mark. I should have left right then.

Shower, eat something. Go check the results. 7th!? Crap. Time was 1:56+. Let's see...Only 11 finishers so far in my group. There's bound to be a few DNF, but still... I'm so dang average.

I definitely recommend this race. It's similar to Boggs, but closer, with better course markings, and not quite as hard both on the cardio or the technical factor. But still very fun with all the tight turns. A lot of TWW studs will rock this place.

The only people I knew were some guys on the Stan's Bike Shop team, and Janice and Chuck from Boggs II. Janice came in 3rd Beginner women. Next year though...I can see a whole wave of red jerseys at the awards ceremony.

-Rich