View from the back of the truck on the way home from McCubbins GulchYesterday was the Bear Spring XC MTB race up at McCubbins Gulch (Race #3 in the Oregon XC MTB Series). The weather was perfect this year, no snow on the trail, and the course was a lot of fun - just the right amount of technical riding to keep things interesting!
My race report should really start on Saturday - when I had a bit of scare that I might not be able to race at all! Thor & I were out riding at Family Man at Post Canyon with Becky & Matt, and were practicing riding this long, skinny log that runs in a U-Shape up at the very top of Family Man. Things were going well until I tried to bump over a gap and my rear tire slid off the log - I heard this awful cracking sound and turned around to see my carbon fiber derailleur cage sheared off and stuck in the log - completely detached from my bike! It was about 4:00 at this point, and I was sure I'd just dashed my chances of being able to race on Sunday.
A few calls later we discovered that the Oregon Bike Shop was open until 7 p.m. on Saturdays - and they were willing to drop what they were doing and work on my bike that night to get it fixed up so I could race on Sunday! We hopped in the truck and bee-lined back into town and pulled into the shop around 5:30 - they swapped my derailleur out and fixed some other stuff I'd jammed and got me back on my bike in about an hour. Sweet!
Sunday morning we rolled out of town with 4 bikes and Thor, Becky, Matt & I packed into the truck. It immediately became clear that none of us had really looked at the instructions to the race and we realized we had about 30-40 minutes more of driving than we'd thought. Oops. (Note to self 1: showing up 30 minutes prior to race start when half of the car hasn't registered is cutting it TOO close!)
The air was crisp and clear, and I was tempted to race in both my leg & arm warmers, but at the last minute as we were lined up Thor convinced me to start without them and I am so glad he did! The day warmed up quickly and the race temp was perfect - probably about 65 degrees and sunny - it was absolutely lovely.
The Cat II women's field did one 20-mile lap - and I had no idea what to expect (Note to self 2: It might be handy to study the course map ahead of time in order to have an idea of a) where one is, and b) how much farther one has to ride at any given point on the course). The course was mostly old 4-wheeler track - which was a nice width as it allowed for opportunities to pass. There were some really fun stretches of technical riding, and a number of downhills that you could really let go and fly down as well.
Overall I had a great time - the course was totally rideable with enough techy sections to keep things interesting, and 20-miles didn't feel nearly as horrible as I was expecting it to. I also realized that I actually have gotten much better at descending - as there were a number of times when I caught up to groups of Cat II men braking their way down the hills. It's always fun when you have the realization that your practicing is actually paying off! Un-officially I think I finished 2nd in the Cat II womens' field - and Becky won our race! BUT I was even more excited about the fact that I was only about 12-minutes behind Thor who finished around 10th in the Cat II men's field!
Sounds like a wild race, but you made it to the starting line on time. Good shot of the four bike seats!!!
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