Uwharrie

This past weekend was XC race #2 in the Southern Classic Series. The race was in Uwharrie National Forest. There had been 4 days of rain to the race, but I figured the course would drain. I was wrong. I left my dry conditions tires on and was about to get an education in drifting.

The weather was great for race day. But, as soon as we took off, the mud was everywhere. The front group started off all together with just enough room to let the mud spray between riders. Two guys were off the back at the start. I knew this was going to be a hard day when I realized I was working harder and going about 10 mph slower than last year. The mud was negating all of my power and making me sit and spin up every climb. I settled into 6th place and rode for a while. One of the guys behind me at the start went by, but I didn't want to change my pace. I made up one spot and felt ok. I was hoping that my flat feeling that I had before the race. The leaders of the next class caught me and I tucked in behind on the road. The technical section was a welcome change on the second half of the course, with only a few bad spots. I finished the first lap and was hoping to feel stronger as the race went on.

On the second lap I was feeling ok. As I got closer to the top, conditions were getting worse on the trail. Climbs were getting slicker and small wet spots were getting stretched out. This was starting to take a toll on me. 7th place caught me on the small climbs on the back half of the course, I decided to stay on his wheel to pace and to try and get him to make a mistake. I stayed really close, this helped to take my mind off of the suffering and I could see he was having trouble in the technical/rocky sections. I rode his wheel as close as I could all the way to the bottom, he messed up and had to get of his bike. I went by and started to attack. I knew he was going to do all that he could to stay with me, so I kept it steady. We made it out to the second road section and he passed me back after a few minutes. I was getting really tired, so I just tried to keep sight of him.

I was trying to eat and drink as much as possible, this didn't help. When lap 3 started I was cooked. I knew I had to push through it. I kept going and hoped I could take 6th back on this lap. I was struggling up what had become a mostly mud course now. The mud was thicker and slicker for the last lap. I didn't see anyone for the first half of the lap. As I continued through the technical section, I saw 6th. He just flatted and had to make a quick stop. I rode by and checked on him. He was ok, so I pushed on. I wanted to to the technical sections as fast as possible to keep distance for the last road section. I was alone until the last mile when I thought I heard a bike, I climbed with all that I had and sprinted to the finish. I must have been imagining things because no other riders came in for about 6 minutes. I was happy to be done for today. Now I can spend all week cleaning up!