Spa City 6 Hour...pros and dissapointments

This last weekend the MWCC crew took a venture down to the UET Spa City Extreme 6-Hour Mountain bike Race in Hot Springs, Arkansas to kick off our 2012 mountain bike racing. The long and short of it is that it was a great event, with an awesome venue, in a pretty neat town on the border of the Ouachita National Forest.  The 10 hour drive was worth it for what I can defintely say is some of the most fun you can have in a mountain bike race.

I'll admit I was a little concerned going down to the race given the forecast of rain and the lingering cold/congestion/sinus infection thing going on. Still I took the plunge. During the pre-ride I felt good with the congestion being clear enough to ride through.

On race day my legs actually felt great and I was hoping for the best. The lemans start went well for me I actually managed to get a decent run and got strait to my bike and took off. Once rolling I made up a bunch of spots on the road starting loop before we hit the singletrack. After that, I went about making up spots where I could.

After lap 1 of the 10 mile track I was feeling really good and kept my pace going. At the pits on lap 2, Todd Eyberg rolled in when I was finishing up my little snack and we rolled out pretty much together. On the longish climb 2 miles in I opened the throttle again and starting making up more spots on guys who'd passed me in the pits, again feeling good. On lap 3, about 3-4 miles in I was bummed to catch Mike Miles who'd flatted. I stopped gave him an extra CO2 and kept going. Up to this point everything was going great aside from the need to lube the chain.

Nearing the end of lap 3, something was noticeably wrong, I was losing power even though my legs felt good and my breathing was becoming labored. 1 mile from the start/finish I had to back off the group I had caught up to and was starting to cough, and my congestion was hitting full force. I limped into the pits and sat down. 5 minutes later Mike rolls in and I told him I think I'm done. About 2 minute later I was in full asthma attack. Fortunately I had packed my inhaler after a few puffs of that I was ok but I was done. Luckily I brought the inhaler or I might have ended up on a stretcher this time. All in all the combo of sinus infection, and allergies (everythign was starting to bloom there) got the best of my asthma. It was dissappointing to what was looking like a really good day like that but it happens. Living with asthma and racing bikes is something that is really always a gamble...99% of the time I'm ok, other times the optimal condition can lead to this kind of result.

On a more positive note, I do admit to being a little start struck this last weekend. I'd met Ned Overend a a couple of times. This was my first time meeting Tinker Juarez though. If you don't know who he is...well check this...

Heres the photo I took with him during race registration. He was super cool and while Todd Eyberg and I were standing around he came up and introduced himself. Again thats another reason to love the sport, down to earth pro's.

So as if that wasn't enough, I'd become aware last year that Ben and Eric Bostrom of World Super bike fame had also become pro mountain bikers racing for Sho-Air. Low and behold Eric was racing his first endurance mountain bike race this weekend at Spa City. While I was in the bathroom line pre-race he walked up and said hi and we talked for a bit. Unfortunately I'd left my phone in the car or I would have gotten another picture taken. Still pretty cool that he has transition from racing motorcycles internationally in his 20's to turning into a pro mountain biker in his 30's. Now for those of you who also aren't familiar with the Bostroms, I give you this: (watch how Eric uses his bike handling and course knoweldge to lead out the v-twin ducatis and hondas against which his 4 cyclinder Ninja was outclassed)...

Anyways thats all I got for now. I've got some meds to clear up this stuff in my head. Next up will be the first Psycowpath race at Swanson in a couple weeks.

J