Apparently, I was feeling pretty good. I finished 12th, but I rode two really consistent laps (1:01:49 and 1:02:49, respectively), and felt like I was putting power to the pedals the entire race. Ultimately, I was 8:12 out of 10th, 16:32 from the podium, and 18:29 from 1st.
All washed up after the race...very dusty.
The course started on a 15% dirt road that got steeper as you climbed, leveling off after about 150ft of gain. Hopped onto a singletrack that wasn't difficult by itself, but was pretty tough after that opening climb. Just unrelenting more than anything. After a short, flat doubletrack, a turn onto a singletrack for lots of roots and uphill commenced. Off that, more steep doubletrack that flattened out at the end, then onto the most arduous part of the climb - a 15-20 minute singletrack that was decently steep, but full of small (softball to football sized) rocks and roots. I mean full...like northern France cobbles. No love for the hardtail. So I think the course gains just a hair over 1000ft in 4 miles. Over the top, we go down a super tight and very rocky descent, then gain most of that elevation back with some relatively smooth singletrack (but steep...like point of the saddle steep). Then the first descent. DEEP sand, BIG rocks, loose all the way down. Super technical...I sucked in this section, mainly because of my height. Lose about 400 feet, then gain it all back on a heavily wooded doubletrack. Descend from the second high point back to the base (with a short little 50ft burst climb...the descent was being used for the Super D Sunday). It is a "beginner downhill" trail, so there were lots of 2 foot drops, big banked berms with hips connecting them, and more of that sandy rocky crap. A 150 yard long warp-speed straightaway with a loose left-right chicane at the bottom was thrown in for good measure. Finished the lap going through "the ballroom" - the base area is pretty void of trees, so everyone could watch you switchback and drop into the last three banked berms. Its a fun course, but there was absolutely zero about it that was easy.
I lost probably 2 minutes on the first lap because I was overcooking corners in the sand, and having to let the front end of the 30+ age groups through. I felt like my height wasn't letting me put the bike in the right position to get around the corners efficiently; I'm skittish that if I lean my bike too much in one of those corners in the trees, the bike will wash out, I'll hit the tree on the inside of the corner, and I'll be riding down on a stretcher instead of a 29er. Its probably detrimental to me getting faster, but I'd rather finish slower than not finish.
I probably could have ridden two places better, but it is what it is. I probably also could have picked up two more minutes if I had a full-suspension bike. The top half of the climb and the first two descents were very rough - lots of roots and small rocks. The rest of the time gap is just ability and experience gap. The more important thing for me psychologically is that I never felt like I was going to come apart. I keep catching myself being disappointed that I can't really compete with those guys yet, but I'm at where I'm at. Just have to keep pushing on. I'm really happy with the fact that I just felt like I had a good race for my ability.
Railing the descent on lap 1
And I did get to exercise a little bit of race tactic, which is unusual at the back end of a race - I was kind of dueling with another guy in our group; he got in front on the first half of the climb on the first lap, I got around and put 30s into him on the second half of the climb, he got it all back plus 10s on the descent. I caught back up to him about a half mile into the climb on the second lap; he picked it up and I just sat his wheel through the first single track section, then I sprinted around him and got a gap to him on the next part of the ascent, which must have been a pretty big gap, as I ended up finishing 2 minutes in front of him.
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