The Bear Creek Challenge marked the final round of Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. I was amped to race here because I had my first XC race on this mountain back in high school…back then it was called Doe Mountain. This was also a Kenda Cup Qualifier for the Shoot-Out.
Got to the venue nice and early…grey skies and a light drizzle met my girl and I there. Picked up my plate and kitted up to get my warm up started. Then it started to rain. Threw on my Metal Wind Jacket and it kept my kit nice and dry!
Felt good and ready to get the race rolling. The race was set for 2 7-mile laps of the course. Word around the start was that it was very rocky, rooty and an overall tough course. Sounded good to me! Little did I know that I was in for a beating.
Off the gun I had a good start and sat right behind in 5th place as we weaved around the base area before dumping into the first set of single track. Punchy and twisty track…with some quick decents and rooty climbs. I sat in and tried to keep my HR under control.
Road some fireroad into the next section…where I was met with rock garden after rock garden…downhil tech sections…up hill tech sections. It was crazy. I could not find a groove…kept dabbing and putting a foot down here…down there…it was frustrating. Stopped myself on a decent with my shin on a big rock and split my shin open…blood just was flowing down my leg…although it didnt hurt…at the time.
Rolled through the finish of the first lap in just over an hour for 7 miles…brutal…got a fresh bottle from my girl and some positive cheers from her family that had come out to support me.
Throughout the second lap I was gassed…bouncing off rocks and roots trying to maintain and finish the race. I was coming into the final steep grass climb and PING…chain broken! ARGH! Again! Was able to fix it in about 2 minutes and finish the race.
Got cleaned up and went over to First Aid to look at my shin. Cleaned it up…no stitches needed…sweet!
I was asked if I would race here again. I answered: Yup!
Finished 7th on the day and still waiting for overall MARC results…hoping for top 3!
Thanks for reading!
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