Flying in Flagstaff!
click the pic for more, courtesy of www.fountain-photo.com
I love it up there… Flagstaff has that real ‘backyard appeal’ in that I would love for it to be my backyard. It’s got everything a MTB addict could want. Trails within riding distance from house - check. Long sustained climbs on dirt - check. Technical singletrack climbs - check. Trees - check. Dirt - check. High speed descents and steep technical descents - double check. Views - check. And my most recent discovery, an epic race course - check.
The finals were contested on a single lap of approximately 26 miles. It had everything mentioned above and more. John, Steve, and I rode to the start and didn’t even have to mess with a car which is a victory in and of itself. A bit of a warm up and we were charging up the mountain. I followed Kevin down the first hair-ball descent and then up the climb, only to watch him ride off the course with his head down pedaling like mad. Those of us chasing just five seconds behind all asked “Where’s Kevin going?” as we continued on the course by taking a left turn. It’s too bad that one of the fastest locals missed the three signs marking the course…
The first half of the course was mostly climbing, traversing and more climbing. By the 40 minute mark I was starting to open up a gap so after grabbing a feed from Chad (thanks!) I rallied hard on Pipeline before dropping into more rock-strewn lava field singletrack. It was all about keeping steady and not over cooking the engine. Hard, but steady, hard but steady… This was the same route that took me 3:15 to ride just six days prior and I bonked horribly in the process..
The transition to fire road climb came at an hour and five minutes and my gap was growing. A neutral feed courtesy of Swiss American Bikes (thanks!) went a long ways to keep me topped off and cool. I dug hard up the fire road to the very top of the course before looking back. No one was in sight and I must have had a minute on the field at this stage of the game. As if I wasn’t nervous enough already, now I had 45 minutes of gnarly descent ahead of me. I kept it smooth and avoided taking the big risks. I did a couple hike-a-bikes and bobbled a couple times, but for the most part I was really ripping it and I absolutely loved every minute. Last time I was on this trail it was totally amateur hour compared to race day. I was putting the Four Stroke to good use and it only begged me to give it more speed.
I made it through Upper Moto unscathed to grab another feed from Chad (thanks again!), check behind to see no one, and hammered the other direction on Pipeline. Flying down Dog Food I knew that I could win by just keeping it smooth from there on out. The most demanding trails were behind me at this point and I was looking forward to the climb up Rocky Ridge. I knew that I would be riding that stuff well since I wasn’t feeling too beat up yet. The bike was perfect for the course. The suspension optimized the traction and kept rolling resistance minimal while the feather-light 26″ wheels accelerated and negotiated boulders like no other. Through Rocky Ridge I was able to ride the rocks well which only helped the finish line come that little bit sooner. My time of 2:14 and some change was about 15 minutes faster than I would have anticipated and was a full hour faster than last weekend’s bonked pre-ride. Awesome!
It was a great battle out there and I was stoked every moment of the race. It was one of those days were I must have had a smile on the entire time. I couldn’t have asked for any more performance from the BMC equipped with NoTubes wheels. The equipment was perfectly suited for the terrain and didn’t let me down on a single account. The three feeds out there kept me fueled and without them it very well could have been a different outcome. Hopefully Flagstaff has us all back for another race sometime soon; apparently it’s been nine years since those trails were last raced. I was happy to of helped welcome them back.
A lot of plans are in the works, but my next race could very likely be the WORS in Wausau. More on that and more to come… Enjoy the ride, the rhythm, and the flow. -TJ
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