EFTA Horror at Harding Hill Race Report 7-6-08
7/6/08 Harding Hill, Sunapee, NH
Conditions: Fast and very dry, hot and humid
The course: 5.0 mile loop on a relatively non-technical course that starts with about a ½ mile of double track with a bit of climbing into a single track down. There were 2 significant climbs with a host of other short climbs. 1 tricky downhill single track that you had to pay attention to as there were large rocks to maneuver between as you were descending with good speed. One minor mud section and some nice twisty rooty single track. Just before the finish was a short dip and then up a short incline that required a bit of speed and pedaling to get over a row of rocks and up into the finishing field.
Sports: did 3 laps
Results: Norm Collard – Sport Masters (50+) – 1st (also won Sports overall)
After missing last week’s mudfest at Moody Park, I was eager to get back into the mix of the Sports Masters category. Missing last week dropped me down to 2nd place in the leader points. I enjoyed this course last year and did relatively well finishing 3rd in the Sport Vet II. This was a course more suitable to my strengths with a good amount of climbing and not very technical. It’s a 5 mile loop we would do 3 times while the experts did 4 and the novice did 2 laps.
After the race meeting held at 9:40, I headed out on a warmup ride on the course to see if it was the same as last year. I knew it would be tight, as the Sports race would go off at 10:10 giving me 30 minutes to do a warmup ride. Hooked up with several other racers to ride part of the course…10 minutes into the course, it appeared to be the same as last year including the initial long extended climb. At the top of the climb, I decided to turn around and go back as the other racers had already turned around. But somehow I missed a turn on the way back and was following the arrows again on the course…hmm, it’s 9:50, I continued to follow the course, hopefully this was not a bad decision. At about 10:00am I asked one of the marshalls how far I was to the finish line “you’re kinda at the far end of the course right now”. Great, whatever that means, guess I have to pick up the pace just to make it back in time for the start. 5 minutes later, after going at almost race pace, I’m on a fire road and come to another marshall and ask what’s the quickest way back to the start “just follow this road back, but go quickly as the experts will be coming up this road in a few minutes”. Phew! I’m back at 10:10 and thankfully, they’re running late. So I covered about 90% of the course and it’s in great shape and identical to last year.
I get 10 minutes to recover from my warmup…okay, now to look for familiar faces. Say hello to Chuck Piper who won last week at Moody Park and surpassed me in the leader points. He also beat me by 19 seconds at Clifford Park 2 weeks ago. Hopefully I can redeem
myself today. No sign of Andy Sherman who is the other major contender in the Sports Master.
It’s a pack start of all the Sports categories from Juniors to Masters and I line up in the second row. Looks to be about 50-60 of us lined up. And we’re off. It’s a mad dash at the gun, fortunately, the first ½ mile is a nice double lane fireroad with a bit of climbing. This gave me the perfect opportunity to test my fitness level as I passed about 20 riders in the first 2 minutes and continued to pass 1 after another in the first 10 minutes of the course that was about 30% climbing. I looked to be in the top 10-15 position after 10 minutes into some single track. Good to recover just a bit before the next good climb, through some twisty rooty section that leads into a muddy section that trips up a couple of guys in front of me and by chance I pick a good line and stay in my pedals and move ahead of them. There’s a gap of 3 riders ahead that I set my eyes on and slowly move to catch up with them on the next climb and grab their wheel. Hmm, not sure if this is the lead group but I like the pace they’re setting and decide to settle in with them for the time being as I can’t see anyone ahead of them. We stay together through the first lap. Into the second lap and I’m still with the same two guys, one who looks to be only a teenager but very strong. As we approach some novice racers at the beginning of a climb, the teenager decides to make a move and puts some distance on myself and the other of our little trio. After thinking about it for 30 seconds and still in the climb I launched past the last of our trio and move up to teenboy. Into the mud section and I get a bit hung up thinking I should be able to clear this like I did the 1st lap and dismount only to have teen boy get ahead. The 3rd muskateer comes by me as well. Argh! Catch back up and we’re a trio again. One of the few technical sections is near the end of the course which consists of getting through a narrow muddy line between boulders and up some rooty section. I’m in third spot as we approach and both teen boy and number 3 get tripped up, dismount and start running up this section. The stars were in alignment today as I manage to clean this section and move past both guys. Into lap 3 I put some distance on my 2 coherts and catch another racer going at a decent clip. One of the disadvantages of mtb racing only having numbers on the front of the bikes is not knowing if the guy in front of you is in your category or not. He looks to ride very smoothly so I decide to stay on his wheel and settle in a bit. We continue to pass what must be novice racers. If there’s any sport racers in front, they were out of my league anyway so I take comfort in at least knowing I have the sport masters category locked barring a mechanical of some sort and stay with this rider to take me to the finish. Once again I clean the last technical rooty section (why couldn’t I do this at Clifford Park?) but get hung up behind another novice rider in a single track section for maybe a minute before I can pass. Down the last hill and up the final short climb and into the field, I hear another set of wheels just behind me. Kick into a final sprint to the finish and just after I cross the line, who’s right behind me but teenboy. As I suspected, the wheel I was following in lap 3 continued on for his final lap in the expert field.
Well that was fun. Hmm, look around to see who else finished beside teenboy and I. No one around but perhaps they already went back to their cars to change…probably finished several minutes ahead of me. So, I head to my car, clean up, change, refuel and head back to the finish line. 10 minutes later the preliminary results are posted. As suspected I took 1st in the Sports Masters at a time of 1:19:46.
Look down to Sport Junior and see first place with a time of 1:19:47.
That was teenboy (okay I still don’t know his name as I only looked at his finish time). Looking at all the other sports categories 1st place finishes….can that be right? I had the fastest time from 16 through 50+? Yikes! Totally didn’t expect that but too cool for words! Take that you young studs! An old fart can still kick a little butt every once and a while. The stars and the moon were in perfect alignment for this amazing feat! So the Horror at Harding Hill turned out to be the Hammer at Harding Hill for this old dude. I’ll take it. Could be the last time, so I’m going to enjoy it for a while! It also prompted me to consider moving up to Expert category. I do enjoy WINNING, so I’m
a bit torn. In fact, I’ve seen my name mentioned by another mtb club after this race as a “sandbagger” encouraging me to move up to Expert.
I’m off for vacation later this week, so I’ll give this more thought. Perhaps it’s time take the plunge and challenge myself more in the Expert Masters. Stay tuned!