Wednesday, April 6, 2011

6 Hours of Warrior Creek - Race Report

This is one of the good ones. The 6 Hours of Warrior Creek has fast become one if the best run and most fun races in the southeast. The BMCC guys always do a great job and the trail is all joy. Seriously, if you haven't been, go, now. Last year the race was super fast as the trail was bone dry and it made for a very fun riding experience. This year the rain man had been pounding the area pretty good, but as the end of the week drew to a close it looked like we would luck out and have fairly dry condition for the weekend; no chance for rain. Kelly and I drove up the night before and found no puddles or wet areas around the hotel. Nice. The next morning I woke up to the sound of Kelly making his way to the bathroom.

Me: "Dude, it rained all night. The ground is totally soaked." I smirked not even getting out of bed.
Kelly: "What?" he rushed to the window and drew back the curtain. "Whatever, there's no wa...oh, man."
Me: "Wait, what?" I jumped up hoping he knew I was messing with him and was playing his own card. "Oh, man. Well, it prolly won't be bad on the course. The area under that car isn't even wet."

I was wrong. It was wet. It was cold. It was windy. It was much different than 2010. The first lap was a mess, the second was better. By the third lap it was game on; wicked fast. Kelly and I were in the duo male class and knew we had our work cutout for us. I had a good start but quickly realized my dry, hard pack tires (Bontrager 29-0) were not happy in the slime. I lost some time but was still in the top 10 when I flatted near mile 10. Ok, it's been a while since I've changed a flat in the mud and I hope it's at least that long again. Plainly stated: it sucks. Kelly and I managed to come back well on laps 2 and 3 but our fourth lap was a disaster. Kelly decided he didn't like riding over the rock gardens; tumbling through them was more his style. A high speed crash really took the wind out of us (well, him), and it was the final nail that would keep us out of the top 5. Thankfully, he's alright and will live to fight another day. We ended the day 6th out of 36 teams.

Scott "The Megawatt" George was also there racing in the highly competitive singlespeed class. It was his first race of the year so his plan was to take it easy and get some good miles in. He was riding really strong when, on his second lap, he broke his chain halfway through the course. Bent plates kept him from repairing it on the trail and he was forced to run back to the pit. He was still able to bang out 4 laps and go home with a bit left in the tank. In the end it was enough to finish 14th out of 38.

Chris Baker and Tracey Lewis were also on hand and did a great job finishing 5th in the super fast duo coed class. Always the gentleman, Baker rode the first two laps in the mess and only let Tracey go out once the trail was dry. Intentional or not, she loved it.

I also played around with the new Contour GPS camera that Bicycle Sport has at the shop. Check it. BTW, it's in HD, just adjust your settings in the You Tube box (720p). Enjoy.



C

3 comments:

  1. Sweet video. Unfortunate flat as it looked like you were rocking the trail. My Stan's "The Crow" slick was not much ise on the first lap but did well on my 2nd and 3rd laps.

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  2. Great Vid!! wow your first lap was fast and clear, I gotta get to the front quick. My lap was log jammed with weak granny pushers and Doritos munchers

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  3. I really enjoyed when you flipped the cam around!!

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