I really wanted to race in the Cat 1 Open category but it did not start until 2pm and I had to be home for a cookout with my family, so I opt'd for the Geared Marathon category starting at 9:30am and lasting for 4hours! When I went to register I was SUPER HAPPY to find out that Kevin Carter was registering as a 'day-of' because he missed the online registration. He STOMPED me at Bakers with his fancy gears on a super fast/flat 13hour course but with the epic climbing at Greenbrier I knew that I would be closer, I didn't expect that I could beat him but I knew I could at least make him work for it (hopefully).
At the start Kevin did his normal (albeit strange) start of waiting for the field to take off and leaving a few seconds later. I need to ask him what his logic is behind that kind of start? I took the hole shot (meaing I was the 1st into the woods coming off the start line / open field) into the woods. From there I kept a steady pace up the 1st 1/2 of the course, which consists of 3 major climbs. Nearing the top of the 3rd major climb I looked back the field was no where in sight... except for Kevin of course...
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| Thanks A.E.LANDES for the picture |
At the top of the 3rd climb he caught me. He took the lead on the downhill after that.
I was able to hold his wheel through the technical rocks at the bottom of the climb, near the end of the 1st lap. He stopped just after the rocks, right before the start/finish, to adjust something on his bike. I kept going, through the start/finish and hammering up the climbs again, hoping to stay away. After all the climbs he was back on me and he lead the downhill again.
I stayed with him through the start/finish and he stopped for a water bottle just before we entered into the woods again. I hammered the climb, but again he caught me towards the top. This time when we hit the rock garden (3rd lap) I bobbled a little, he took full advantage of that and got a 30second gap immediately! That was the last I saw of him.
For the rest of the 9 laps there was a ton of traffic from the Beginner and Sport races that started while we were on the course, so I always had company. I enjoy cheering on teammates and other racers... it is so fun! It was a really beautiful day.
In the end I lost to Kevin by about 6 minutes.. he was 3:57 I was 4:03. My lap times were pretty consistent and I was able to keep a pretty fast pace without slowing up too much throughout the day. The first few laps when lapped rider traffic was not an issue it was much easier to keep a fast pace.
Here are Kevin and my lap times:
Here are Kevin and my lap times:
| Kevin | Patrick | |
| Lap 1 | 00:25:04.68 | 00:24:34.52 |
| Lap 2 | 00:25:01.47 | 00:25:32.76 |
| Lap 3 | 00:25:35.33 | 00:25:57.55 |
| Lap 4 | 00:25:45.35 | 00:26:57.27 |
| Lap 5 | 00:26:04.25 | 00:27:23.68 |
| Lap 6 | 00:26:29.34 | 00:27:38.47 |
| Lap 7 | 00:27:28.40 | 00:27:53.41 |
| Lap 8 | 00:28:41.55 | 00:28:27.11 |
| Lap 9 | 00:27:32.72 | 00:29:10.38 |
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