I had practiced the course on the Saturday and fell in love with it the minute I got over the first short climb and realised that it was one of two 'climbs' on the lap. It was not in the difficulty range of some I had experienced before and as the lap went on I realised how fast the circuit would be and how much good single track was involved. It was the ideal course for the non-climber, even if the second of the two climbs was a little tougher.
That it was a fast, dry course didn't mean squat to my chances of winning. I was close to the back of my race in round one and spent most of it keeping out of the way of faster riders from races that started behind me, and I didn't fancy my chances of suddenly racing at the front this weekend.
That didn't matter though... there would still be the challenge of riding well enough so that when I stood in the shower that evening the terrible thought that all racers fear wouldn't cross my mind: "Could I have went better?" There would also be the pure enjoyment of such a good course and spending three laps on it.
And so it proved to be. I finished one place ahead of last and slowed dramatically as the race went on. Because the race was flat and fast to start, I didn't have the an opening hill to get blown away from the leaders early enough to compose my effort. As it was, I tried to stick with the front group as best as possible until I hit that first climb and my heart-rate was right up near the 'red zone'. I trialed in after one lap about three minutes down and the effort took its toll on me for the second lap.
I did everything a little slower that second time around as I tried to manage the heart rate on my Garmin. But for getting off the bike for a few minutes it was not going to come down enough so I had to make do and try plod on losing four minutes something on the second lap.
Likewise, the third circuit seen me do everything slower still and it was a five minutes plus change time loss. Part of that, I like to believe, was that I crashed early on the third lap. Focusing on passing a back-marker from a race that had started ahead, my handlebar clipped a tree sending me hard onto my side. The damage was nothing more than a few scratches, but scratches visible enough to make my comeback to mountain bike racing way last September, official.
"Be careful... everyone's starting to get tired" said the friendly voice of the bloke behind me after I let him through while getting myself back on the bike. He was right, fatigue had no doubt led to the slip in concentration, though I wasn't having it.
"I swear that tree moved," I called out hopefully and sarcastically.
"I hear ya," he replied with the kind of agreement that led me to believe the same had happened to him somewhere out on the course, earlier in the race.
By the finish it worked out to be about thirteen minutes that I lost in all to the eventual race winner and three minutes back on the man in front. I wasn't bothered though. I had really enjoyed the course and taken no stupid risks on the final descent of the final lap that would have left my wife and daughter -- attending their first ever mountain bike race -- taking me hospital rather than home. For that reason I crossed the line feeling pretty good about myself, my heart-rate probably at it's most normal since the race began but plainly aware I couldn't have pushed it harder throughout.
My only disappointment was that I had gone from the gun so hard. Pacing yourself from the start is a very difficult thing to master in mountain biking. Road racing the race tends to start smoother and you can ride yourself into it, but on a mountain bike race, it's all out from the start. It takes discipline to let the pack go aware that by saving something you'll ride stronger later and pull back the early lost time. It's something I've always struggled to do, but something I'll try to control next time ... or the time after that.
It's three weeks before the next race now when there will be two on back-to-back weekends so I'll try get some road miles in and a little mountain biking to prepare. I certainly hope to do more between races than I did between the first and second round and I hope to race better as I go with two rounds worth of race distance in the body and on the bike.
