Day 4 recap

Day 4 Coburn Stage Recap

Day 4 of the Transylvania Epic brought yet another completely different day of racing.  First day a 1 hour time trial, day 2 was an endurance cross country grind, day 3 was the enduro, and day 4 ended up being the "road stage".  While we did hit some trail, most of the day was spent primarily on the countless dirt roads that weave their way through the state forests.

I tried to be just a little more aggressive at the start, recognizing that this was not a day to be left riding alone on the road sections.  I figured start closer to the front and drop back to groups behind as needed.  By the time we jumped into the first single track section I was in the third major group in the race and ended up riding with that groups for most of the rest of the day.  Chris Cyr put in a great ride during the stage and joined our group at the first checkpoint.  

Our group road together until we started to approach the town of Coburn, where the Wilderness 101 mile race is based out of.  I knew from that event that we'd be going on a section called the "fishermans trail".  On a good day, if it's dry, and your fresh, maybe you can ride 80% of it.  This was not one of those days.  The rain from the night before left the rocks super slippery making it hard just to walk over them.

Regardless of trail conditions, I had a plan coming into this section.  I didn't want to just sit in the same group all day long and wanted to challenge myself a little more.  So it worked out perfect that I was second in line going over the foot bridge that brought us to the start of the single track.  At that point I jumped the group to be the first into the trail.  My plan thinking was to push hard through the technical sections, gap the group, and maybe bridge up to riders that got separated from a group up the road.  It worked, except there weren't many people to catch.  By the end of the railroad tunnel I caught single-speeder Matthew Ferrari on the road and pulled him through town to the base of the climb.  Here I settled into my tempo for the 20 minute climb while he powered away (only one gear, he had no choice, and I wasn't about to go into the red zone just to stay with him).

So I didn't end up bridging up to anyone, but did regroup with three other riders from earlier and we worked together for the rest of the event.  Once I got to the last downhill and knew we were turning into the start/finish venue I shut it down and cruised home.

Day 5 will be more trail out at R.B. winter park.  It's going to be cool and drizzling all morning, so who knows just how the trails will ride.  I'm sure the rock sections will make for another epic day.