STORIES OF MY SUFFERFEST.: March 2012

The 17th annual Chickasaw Trace Classic was this past sunday. 17 years?! Wowza, I was stoked to be a part of a race that has that much local history. Ive heard since moving to Nashville this was one of the largest participating MTB events in the TBRA series. I think their were around 265 racers in attendance, not too shabby. Chickasaw is my favorite trail in the Nashville area even though Ive only ridden it twice, once in preride and then during the race. It has a bit of everything, a technical uphill rock garden, some short steep climbs to keep you honest as well as some all out bigring sections where the limit of how fast you can go is decided by your two cylinders!

The PRO class was small but stacked with some respected guys. Dustin Greer(maxxis-wood n wave) got the hole shot and charged in the muddy corners of the first few miles of our first lap. I attacked with Craig Evans in town on an open field flat area. That attack was good enough for he and I to take the 1-2 win. I was able to hold Craig off for the first lap but he killed it the 2nd lap posting the fastest lap of the day and also bridging back up to me. We cruised the 3rd lap into the finish together with a sizable gap on the rest of the field.

Start of the race.

PRO podium, that's right TEAM BC sweeps it!

March 11th was my first XC race of the 2012 season. It took place in Chattanooga, Tn at the Booker T. Washington state park. Typically when I go to Chatty I ride Raccoon Mtn and I was excited to ride somewhere new even though I knew the course wouldn't be as fun as Raccoon. Alot of the Nashville locals told me not to expect much from this race as far as competition and cash payout for podium finishes, and they were right. I was a little disappointed because the course was actually a freaking blast and the venue is super nice.

So I haven't raced my new Superfly let alone raced a MTB since the lock 4 six hour challenge months ago! I was stoked to see how my legs would feel especially since my winter training has been different from most cyclists training and I have done very little intensity.

Here are some pre race pictures...

This is my teammate Josh Lewis and I.

Downing a Larabar for prerace fuel and a nice solid post race dump!

My darling girlfriend and I before the start. She was a big support, she rules!

This year is my first year racing as a PRO. I'm not really super confident in my abilities as an XC racer and I prefer longer endurance events. I figured this low key race would be a good warm up for Chickasaw Trace in two weeks and a big confidence booster. Only one other PRO dude showed up so they raced us with all the other Cat 1 guys. There was 18 of us total.

The race went pretty textbook. The start had a little paved road climb that allowed me to get a gap on the field going into the woods. I love getting the hole shot and riding upfront and riding hard the first lap is my preferred way to race. I pretty much mantained that gap for the entire race. Every lap I put about 2 mins on the second place finisher. Think my total time over him was about 6:30 mins. I felt good, my superfly was legit and flawless. I just put down a steady hard effort and the legs never really felt bad. I am ready for the new racing season, so bring it!

Here are some shots from the race.