Results …
Well, the race was today! It turned out to be only the three of us–my friend Gary, my 15-year old son Drew, and me–on unis. The course was tougher than I’d remembered, and it took us a little longer than we’d anticipated, too–I think our official time (we all crossed the line together!) was 2:06 for a little over 8 miles. So, we’re no speed demons, but we decided on the way to the event that we were just going to stick together and have a good time, and that’s what we did. This was Drew’s first real race event (Gary’s a long-time marathoner, and I’ve done a few things here and there), and we wanted to make sure he didn’t feel abandoned or anything. Not that we would’ve been a whole lot faster anyway …
At any rate, the course was a 4.25 mile fire-road climb that had some pretty steep sections, followed by a 4-mile single-track descent (interrupted a couple of times by uphills–one cruelly long and steep–on fire roads. There were a few spectacular sections of steep, loose, rooty trail that were hardly rideable; Gary made a number of valiant attempts to master some of these, and I tried a couple as well–but neither of us cleaned any of the big sections, and had to settle for some walking. Nobody had any spectacular falls, but we did successfully ford the trailside creek four of six times.
The biggest disappointment, I suppose, is that, within the final half-mile, we were caught by two bicyclists who’d completed the 20-mile route. We were really hoping to make it in before that happened! But when we made it into the finish area, I think we had probably the best set of cheers heard all day! People were excited to see us start the race, and even more psyched that we made it through. Lots of hearty congratulations were handed out to us, which made us feel good about coming. It’s funny, but I think the MTB community is actually more respectful of muniers than most other groups–probably because they know how tough it is to ride the trails on two wheels. Anyway, the race organizer came over and took pictures of us and chatted, which was cool, too.
Actually, the only thing that definitely wasn’t cool was the weather. After the coolest, wettest spring in many years, we seem to have suddenly changed to summer. It was 93 (f) as we drove through town on our way home, and felt bloody hot even at the 9:00 am start. I definitely needed the Endurolyte capsules today to keep my electrolytes in balance–I was more than a little sweaty!
All in all, it was a great experience for all of us. I’m hopeful that we’ll make a return trip next year, and that we’ll have enough muniers to make our own class!
–Peter
PS: John, we’ll all be happy to give you a big Chico welcome anytime you want to head north!