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Viking Biking ChallengeAugust 22, 2004Monsoon rains on the Saturday before the race scared many away, but the course was in great shape. This is a course to keep in mind for next year!! Laps: Novice - 2, Sport - 3, and Expert - 4 Race Results
Race CommentaryAndrew JacobsThis was a very fun and muddy race. I did a warm up lap and got done with it 5 min before the race started. My first lap i felt really good. Second lap I ran outa gas. Man there was a lot of hill climbing. Dodd Lyles Hey This was a great course. I haven't climb this much since Mount Snow. It was a beautiful day for a race. We lined up for the start and the guy was talking about the finish of the race. What side of the ribbon to finish on Oh yeah "GO". Everybody was in shock of how this race started. I slipped my pedal in the first 6 feet of the race and I was doing a SUPERMAN on the bike trying to get my feet back into my pedals. I was dead last into the long grassy straight away. I picked a couple of positions in the single track and when we came to the first technical section I jumped off of the bike and ran past 4 other riders. I finally settled into a good rhythm and finished 6th out of 13. This was a good fun course and will race this again next year. Tom Lemaire I'm not sure about the place, but that was what was posted by the time I left. An excellent race for me. This was my third race, and I'm definitely learning from my earlier mistakes. I rode a steady pace right from the beginning and was able to sustain all the way through with no mid-race bonk. The best part for me was that I was riding behind one guy in my class for almost three quarters of the race and I had enough gas left to pass him on an uphill and pull away at the end. A big change from my first two races, where pretty much the only people I ever passed had mechanical problems! The mud was an interesting challange but not too bad. Watching the sport riders blast through gave me encouragement to try harder in the mud pits 'cause I knew it could be done! And my nose is healing up nicely, thank you. See you at Blueberry Hill! Dan Hurwitz Back in the mid-70's (I know I'm dating myself, but after all, I do race in the Masters category), Stevie Wonder won the Grammy for Best Album several years in a row. When Paul Simon finally broke the string in 1975 with Still Crazy After All These Years, he famously began his acceptance speech by saying "First I would like to thank Stevie Wonder for not putting out an album this year." With that said, YEAH BABY, the podium !!!! Finally. This was a lightly attended race and I'm sure at least one of the "missing" racers would have nudged me off the podium, but hey, I'll take it. This is the best I have ever done in a bike race, both in terms of placement and also in terms of percentage of the pack. My time was about 38 minutes longer than I expected, based on my time at the Landmine race, but that only worked to my benefit, since it gave me more time to catch up with all the hares. As always, I made up ground on the uphills, and tried not to lose too much on the downhills, especially with the wet and slippery roots. Being cautious of the roots paid off with a fall-free race, which combined with a pit-stop and flat free race, eliminated the time penalties incurred in previous races. Also, although the WTB Velociraptor 2.1 tire may not be the most efficient race tire, as some have suggested, it provided loads of traction and helped both in preventing spills and inspiring confidence. All in all, it was a great race day. Leo Kiefer Pretty good course. A little bumpy for a hardtail, but I loved the downhills. Hit about 35 MPH on the gravel road. Thought I was doing pretty well until I finished. I need to take another 10 minutes off my times to place well. My only hope is that EFTA does not screen for performance enhancing substances... Anne Noga Great course. Small field. My goal was to finish as I had competed in the Timberman Sprint Triathlon the day before in Gilford, NH and was pretty tired going into the race. I would like to see this race added to the Championship Series next year. Barry Petzold I decided to use my singlespeed for this race, since I was still not finished building up my new bike. Figured I was going to get my a$$ kicked, but somehow I kept up with everyone and had a good overall sport time. Good thing I run alot, because thats what I had to do on most of those hills. During the first lap, everyone missed a section of singletrack due to one of the course marshalls not paying attention. On the second lap, when we got to that section, he directed us to take a right turn onto a trail we had not taken on the first lap. I was behind two other riders in my age group at that point, and one of them decided not to finish the race. He thought we may be DQ'd for not going the right way. I believe that marshall made everyone go the wrong way on the first lap, so it really wouldnt have mattered. Too bad because the three of us were having a great race up untill that point. David Currie So close to home i figured i couldn't miss this one, even after the monsoon. Turns out that by the time the experts started at noon, the course was starting to dry out. Some big puddles left, and a couple short hike a bikes. But other then that, it was in great shape. A really fun race. Not too hilly, not too technical, just right. |