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29, 2007 
Winding Trails Mountain Bike Race
Root 66 #2
Dan Walsh 19th Sport 40-49 01:12:48
Jonathan Flynn 13th Beginner 30-39 53:58
Amy Hsu 6th Beginner 35-99 59:55
Renee Bousquet 2nd Beginner 19-34 51:10
By Amy Hsu:
I had a blast on my first mtn bike race! Temp was perfect
- cool, just a slight drizzle. Course was surprisingly dry,
a few muddy spots, lots of slippery roots though, not technical,
fun single track sections, and one giant descent (ok,
giant to me)!! I have to say Mtn Biking Racing events are
pretty intimidating. Eeryone shows up like they are ready
to kick-a#@. Definitely glad I did the Beginner race. I finished...well
let's just say I'm pretty sure no one was behind me, but I
did finish within one hour!!! (59:55). I was just happy that
I didn't crash, did all but one climb, and actually hopped
some twigs...no logs!
By Jonathan:
I stayed down in CT after my race to support Dan in
the Sport race and then watched the entire Expert/Pro races
and awards. It was just my second race so I was curious to
watch all the race levels today. Made for a very looong day
though. The race course was non-technical and fast, a real
lung burner! A fun well marked course though. Complete opposite
of the last race at Hop Brook, which was hilly with more technical.
I understand next week's
EFTA will be back to more technical, yay. Today there were
even a few skinny tired cycle-cross bikes out on the course.
They said the total racer turn out was 430 today. I raced
the Beginner 30-39 and
finished somewhere in the middle of the pack around 53 minutes.
Highlights though were Amy completing her first race with
a HUGE
smile on her face in under an hour and Renee puting Crank
Racing up
on the podium with an awesome over-all second place finish
in around
51 min! (I think she really finished first, never saw the
1st
place "ghost rider" finish! haha). Dan basically
completed my
beginner race as a warm up for his race, then proceeded to
go out in
the Sport division and comfortably cruise through 3 laps in
just
1hr12min. All around great day to race and a great venue for
one!
By Dan Walsh:
Not a great race for me at Winding Trails. Middle of the pack
finish for me at #19 out of 41. No points. Once again the
40-49 Sport class was the largest class at the race.
I just didn't feel good during the warmup as Jon and I did
a little road riding to loosen up. I think I over did it on
a wind trainer workout this week and still have not recovered.
I started out fast to get out ahead of the group going into
the first few turns. The fast start took a bit more out of
me than I anticipated. I needed more time than ususal to settle
into my groove. It was about the first loop before I felt
I could do anything. Lots of racers went by in that time.
During the second loop I maintained my position. I got caught
behind a few guys on a singletrack section. Nice for a little
recovery, but that is where I needed to make up my time. Once
on a gravel road I passed and looked for the next one to pick
off. After that I was racing to beat a guy or group onto each
single track section. On lap 3 I noticed a lot of guys begin
to slow. I made the most of it and passed when I could. I
made one mistake going though the only deep muddy section
and had to bail off my bike as I was headed for a tree. After
putting the chain back on and crawling up an incline, I was
spent. I was not Lance after hooking the little girls bag
and falling. It took lots of work to get back on it. I just
didn't have it to catch a guy that was about 4 seconds ahead
of me with 100 yards to go. One guy passed me with 50 feet
to go, but I managed to surge and nip him at the finish line.
All in all, race 2 is done. Bring on the technical singletrack
at Gloucester.
Things for me to work on:
Get some more road bike miles, nothing beats the endurance.
Don't overdo it on workouts during the week, can't get sharp
in one day.
Recover.
Enjoy the burn on race day.
Great to see the team out there. Jon, thanks for the support.
Sounds like you enjoyed the day.
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