2008 Winding Trails MTB Team Race Report
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Conditions:
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Mixed sun and clouds, dry and mild with temps in the mid 50’s.
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The Course:
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The course was a 4.6 mile long power rider’s fun fest. There were no huge climbs, though surprisingly the GPS said there was almost 600 feet of climbing per lap. It was mostly just rolling terrain with fast, new-school, flowy, MTB specific singletrack and short doubletrack and access road sections with a dozen easy log crossings/jumps, a few sections of sand and one chute with a good wheel grabber at the base. Beginners did 2 laps, Sport 3 laps, Expert 4 laps and Pro/Semi-Pro did 5 laps.
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Report:
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We had six NEBC members racing the various fields:
- Kristen Lukach – Beginner Women 19-34 – 6th
- Julie Lockhart – Beginner Women 35+ – 6th
- Cathy Rowell – Sport Women 35+ – 1st
- Teri Carilli – Sport Women 35+ – 12th
- Wayne Cunningham Sport – 40-49 – 1st
- Mike Rowell – Expert 40-49 – 1st
We lost nobody during the race and everyone finished strong.
http://www.root66raceseries.com/results/index.php?method=search.results&column=race_id&race_id=67&race_date=2008
[Julie Lockhart]
Winding Trails – the path to better Cross Season …
Having planned to go to the Winding Trails Race, I failed to enter, and also failed to tell Jim. Sooo we jumped into the van, ate breakfast on the way, and arrived with 10 minutes to enter and line up. I had never seen the course, and not ridden the ‘new to me’ mountain bike I was going to race. Fortunately, I had been on it just barely long enough to adjust the seat to close to the right height (200 yards of riding).
Fab prep for a race. Line up … and zoom off we went. Great start, got behind some people stuck in the sand, no problem … No time to think, so did the whole course on instinct, and learned a lot. I managed to get over all the bumps and rolls taking one or the other foot out of the clips, ran one downhill after failing to make it over the logs … great fun. Next time around, I let the gal who I had passed get by accidentally and chased her unsuccessfully to the finish. Goals met: not last, and lots of learning and FUN!!!
[Teri Carrilli]
DFL but not DNF! Wasn’t sure what to expect for the outcome of this race. My training, while not non-existent, has been a bit sporadic due to work and family travel. On top of that, throw in a self-diagnosis of giardiasis that made it hard to keep any food in for the previous 4 days, I was thinking I’d be lucky if I finished. But who am I kidding – secretly I wanted to be sharing the podium with Cathy and any other NEBC woman who showed up (wouldn’t that be cool?!?!).
Pre-rode the course with Cathy, Mike and Wayne. Knew right then I was in trouble – instead of being fun and easy, I was holding on for dear life and marveling how fast those guys rode so effortlessly. During the pre-ride, we came up to THE LOG (same from last year) that I didn’t ride because the girl in front of me endo’d. I dismounted and was about to step over when Cathy chided, “Ride it, Teri!” So, I backed up the trail and rode it! There’s even photographic proof! The course was fun, twisty single track. No rock gardens, no stream crossings, pretty much just plain fun. Loved it. Better than last year’s beginner course which had a lot of fireroad.
I spun out in the sand at the start of the race but passed two women who got stuck in the stand at the uphill right turn. I held my place for the first bit (including dusting a few riders as I rode THE LOG -thanks, Cath!). By the time we hit the first uphill section, I knew I was toast. I had absolutely nothing. HR was pegged at 95% and I was going miserably slow and being passed. Wah.
During the second lap, besides feeling horrible I had to deal with the masses of men sport riders passing me. Not fun and really messed with me getting in a rhythm. I did manage to pass two of the older male sport riders. Gotta count the little victories. As I finished the second lap, all the men were heading for the finish line. Very hard to go out for another lap.
Third lap was all about survival and just finishing. Which I did. First sport XC race completed. Compared to my performance last year, my skills have really improved. No falls, rode everything. Never dabbed once. For me, that’s an accomplishment. Just have to get the fitness back to last year’s level (or better). Best part: seeing Cathy and Wayne on the podium (I missed seeing Mike up there as I had to leave early.)
[Cathy Rowell]
The terrain for this race played to my strengths – lots of power sections, and several sandy places where keeping momentum was key. There were also a lot of tight turns that I took some risks with during the race – thankfully, all of those risks paid off ;-). I had a blast on the warmup lap, and couldn’t wait for the race (3 laps of a 4.6 mile course).
On the start line, I saw lots of friends from ‘cross season. It was nice to see everyone after a long winter and funny to hear that so many of us are using the MTB racing to prep for ‘cross season (only 4 months away!). I was also psyched to see such a big field – 19 women starting in the Sport category.
I went out hard (there’s a surprise), but got caught in a bad line in the sand right after the start, letting about 4 or 5 women get ahead of me coming out of the first hill. I stayed behind for just a little bit, before putting in a burst on the gas line and passing all but one. I caught the one remaining woman (after following her a little too closely through some sand where she lost quite a bit of speed), and worked to try and get even more distance. I did, however, quickly have company.
My pursuer stuck to my wheel like glue for the remainder of the first lap, and no matter how fast I went (or how slow…), I couldn’t shake her. She followed me into Lap 2, but fell crossing the first log. With that, I kicked some to take advantage (cold and heartless!), and build a gap.
I had to keep on top of my game for the remainder of the race, and not make any mistakes. I talked myself through entire sections, and going into the 3rd lap, even told myself that this was my race to lose, and not to let up now. I attacked the rest of the hills, and sprinted out of the corners. In the end, I crossed the line first – my first mass start win ever! The second place woman was only 20 seconds behind me, but we ended up 3 minutes ahead of the rest of the field.
I was so excited! It turns out the second place woman is also a Cat 3 roadie, who specializes in TT ;-). She has had some great finishes at Fitchburg and Altoona, so that made me feel pretty good.
I think I am back in L-U-V with my M-T-B! There’s another race next weekend, and I’m thinking I might just have to go…
[Wayne Cunningham]
Mike and Cathy asked me if I wanted to go down to Winding Trails to do an MTB race. I thought it would be more fun then Wells Ave., so I took the studded tires off my bike being the ground was still frozen and icy the last time I was on it. I then remembered the brake pads were shot also. I had one pair so I put it on the back and adjusted the front the best I could.
Having raced cross at Winding Trails, I kind of knew what it was like, but not having raced MTB since 1999, I was unsure of what it would be like to race again. It felt nice not being nervous or having any goals in mind, just ride and see what happens. After pre riding the course I felt that it was going to suit me. It had no scary rocky stuff, just lots of tight single track and open double track (my last MTB race I endoed in a rocky decent and split my lip). I talked to Mike about how to ride the race and I thought I might just try to follow a good wheel in the single track then try to move up in the open for the finish.
The start of my race (Sport 40-49) was held one minute longer than planned while we waited for someone to fix a flat he got on the line. Then we went. I knew the left line was the best side to start on to miss deep sand and have a wider line that was less steep and firmer at the first right turn. I figured I would start out like it was a cross race and go from there. I pushed into the line I wanted, took the riders I could on the inside in the turns and hit the first single track in a good spot, taking one more rider in there. Popped out on to the double track to see a group of 3 up the way a little so I pushed it and got with them at the base of a climb. I saw one was in the series leader’s jersey leading the way with one on his wheel and one on the right. I moved in to the right side and thought these might be the guys to follow. Every one of them moved left to the better line so I powered up to not lose my speed and to my surprise I rode right past all of them.
I thought at that point, “Where are the leaders?”, and pushed it as hard as I could every time I hit the open sections and just tried to ride the single track as smoothly as I could. I did scrape my shoulder on one tree but never had to unclip for the whole race; just kept picturing the way I’ve seen Mike ride ahead of me. After the first 1 1/2 laps I started to think that there was either no one in front of me or they were so far gone I couldn’t see them. By now, from attacking all the open spots on the course, I could not see anyone that I had passed behind me and was moving in to the back of the field that started before us. Going in to the last lap I could not believe I was leading and was feeling too good to be on the last lap so I backed off just a little because I figured there must be one more lap. I did not see any lap card or hear any bell. I got to the line and it was all over. I had indeed taken my first ever win! It was longer than a cross race but did not hurt nearly as much (maybe the win dulled the pain).
[Mike Rowell]
After nearly a decade away from the MTB race scene, Cathy, Wayne and I made the trek down to the Root 66 Winding Trails event in Farmington, CT together. When last I raced MTB, in the previous century, I was by no means successful. A good race was to find myself mid pack. Since then, however, I’ve gone from XC racing to singlespeeds to freeride to downhill to time trialing to road racing to cyclocross to trail riding with a mixing of many of the above. Needless to say, I didn’t know what to expect, though I’ve been strong so far this season, I wasn’t sure how I would stack up. My strength has always been my technical riding skills and with increased fitness I was ‘hopefully optimistic’.
On the start line we had 15 including a couple guys that typically stomp me on the cross course. At the start whistle it was the normal mayhem with everyone going for the holeshot up the sandy, loose climb, into the loose woodchipped right hander, to the sandy left hander, then a couple hundred yards of access road and a left into the woods. I entered in 5th spot. This section included the one chute and at the bottom I moved up a couple places. From there back into some singletrack and back onto double where I decided to attack and move to the front. From there I wanted to spred things out so I hammered hard. Fortunately it worked and I splintered the group into myself, Mark G. (Team Fuji) and Jeff M. (Joe’s Garage). Nice that we had a smaller group but unfortunately the two guys who readily stomp all over me in cross.
I stayed at the front through to about the 3/4 point in the lap and then motioned for Mark to come around. He did and bumped the pace and I fell off the back, completely redlined. It was about at this point that I started feeling like a loser for letting our carpool team, who were already 2 and 0 for the day, down by not pulling my weight in the quest for a perfect outing. The next lap I spent hanging back 50 yards trying watch and ride at my own pace to recover and not provoke a further attack. I noted I was faster through the singletrack and on the flats but Mark (who was almost always at the helm and working hard) would space it back out on the hills.
Finally, coming around for lap three of four, I’d mostly recovered, re-focused and pulled the two back to within 20 yards. At the base of the chute I re-attached. I complimented them in my most collected but bubbly voice, on how fast they were going and how badly they were crushing me. Then I mentioned how we should work together to sew the race up. Anyhow, I went to the front and took a good hard pull on a pipeline section into some access road. I looked back to see a gap so I backed off to regroup and apologized for the paceline faux pas. We shared another rotation and then I took over for a tight twisty singletrack section. I just rode it the way I always ride flowy singletrack and when I came back out onto the access road I had a decent gap and decided it was time. I kicked it up and kept moving solo.
The next lap and a half I’d check in the corners to make sure I maintained my lead. A couple of times it appeared as though they were gaining but mostly it looked solid. With about 1/2 lap to go I couldn’t see them anymore and I told myself it was my race to lose, so keep focused, ride fast and clean and make it to the finish in my current position. No problems came up and I managed to make it across first. I spoke with Mark and Jeff after the race (Jeff took 2nd on the line) and they were convinced we must have turned in the fastest expert times of the day. I checked and sure enough, we’d had the fastest Expert race of the day.