Night Race Worlds Recap v.4

In the end Drew was just too fast.  Maybe it was the 26" wheels?


I knew my chances were not good for the win for the Night Race World Championship last Thursday night.  First of all I was riding my Single Speed since the Yeti is out of commission.  And second, there were some fast guys there that night.


My plan from the beginning was to just settle into a nice rhythm and not blow up especially since I would be pedaling my single speed up the first two climbs where my body is used to riding gears.  I took a page out of Dan Z.'s book and I sat down and pedals as much as I could.  In fact I think I only stood up maybe once or twice for a second or two during the first climb on Ann's Trail.  I continued this style of riding even up Jacob's and Canyon Hollow, only standing when I absolutely necessary.  And my legs never were blown and I felt good, surprisingly.  Maybe this is how Dan Z. rides so fast on long distances.


Ann's

I followed Bagley up Ann's.  We had a good pace going where we still had contact with the leaders as far as being able to see their lights up the trail.  I felt like I could go faster but was happy to keep some contact with the lead group and not waste my legs on Ann's.  Bagley hit some soft dirt and put his front wheel off the trail and I went by, and never saw him again.  I thought he would be right on my wheel, but all I saw was the blackness of the gap we had created on the rest of the field.  Ann's was a nice grade to climb in comparison to Clark's especially on my single speed.  It was a little bumpy towards the top and I am not used to bouncing while climbing on a hard tail.


Jacob's


I was on the heals of another rider going into the flat meadow section of Jacob's.  At first I thought it was Rick since he was front of Bagley and I.  I was surprised to see it was Chris Cole who lead up Ann's from the start.  He looked like he used all his matches on Ann's.  In my opinion the night race is won on Jacob's both up and down.  I could see Rick in front of my and for some reason I followed him up the middle section of the 3 choices to climb.  I had to walk the last part and then sat down in the saddle and started grinding away.  I started reeling him in and it reminded me of the first night race where I caught both Brad Keyes and Greg Gibson right before the crest of Jacob's.  I passed Rick right where I passed Brad Keyes.  At this time I didn't realize that Drew Free had just started to descend Jacob's and I really wasn't that far behind.


Jacob's Descent


I quickly found out that I really can't descend as fast on my single speed 29er as I can on a 5" full suspension 26er.  Maybe it was because the mechanical brakes were not working that good on the SS, but I blew most of the corners on Jacob's for not stopping soon enough.  On one of the corners I completely turned around and was looking at Rick in the face before I scampered off on the trail again.  Needless to say I never could put that much time into Rick because I kept losing time when I was stopped off the trail on the corners.  His light was always off in the distance behind me, but still there.


Ghost Falls/Canyon Hollow


I felt a little faster on Ghost and managed to hold Rick off.  I thought I was climbing Canyon Hollow fast enough but that Rick, he just won't give up.  I didn't have but a couple bike lengths advantage to him going into Rush.


Rush


Rush is a super fun downhill.  My problem is I have only ridden it 3 times and I really do not know where I am going at this point.  I was trying to really rally the course and I could feel Rick creeping in closer and closer.  I held him off on Rush only to find out on the bottom of some trail (I am really not sure where we were) I took some switch backs and he took a right straight trail/short cut and my gap on him was gone as we almost crashed into each other.  At this point I really didn't know how we were ending the race so I conceded and followed him down the mountain.


Creekside?


At the end he told me to go ahead since I was ahead before.  I was going quickly down the trail and then there was an option to go right up a little hill or down to the left.  I had a 50/50 chance and I chose left going down.  As soon as I went a little way down the trail it hit me that I missed the turn.  I hopped off my bike and started running it back up the trail only to see Rick take the right turn and speed off.  I knew I blew it at that point.


The Finish


I was surprised to find out that I ended up on the podium in third.  I thought for sure there were more riders out there in front of us and that I really was not riding that fast.  I guess sometimes you surprise yourself.


1 - Drew 
2 - Rick 
3 - Me
4 - Bagley


Big Thanks to Rick for such a fun night.  It really was a lot of fun to battle it out with you during the race.


Oh and of course the Pancake Combo at Village Inn hit the spot.  Great to catch up with friends.


Next time I will have the Yeti and that descent will be mine!