Okay, so I know I didn't post about yesterday's stage and it wasn't because I died or anything. It's because it was a long day and by the time I got back to the cabin I was wiped and really didn't feel like moving. Even to type. So...this will be a little catch up.
Stage 6 yesterday was the queen stage of the Transylvania Epic Stage race. 42 miles of climbs, descents, and awesome trails with views and oh, just a few rocks, to round out the day. On day 5 out at R B Winter park I had a pretty good day, pushed it pretty hard, and walked away feeling like I raced my bike. It's a good thing, because day 6 was not one of those days.
I started out in the usual group that I'd been riding with throughout the week. Ben Sawyer (riverside racing) was with us and I was hoping to keep pace with him throughout most of the day. We made our way through the days first enduro stage then started what I had set in my mind as the 'big climb' of the day. (There was a climb on the elevation profile that looked to be about 7 miles long). After a short downhill we abruptly turned into singletrack, which turned into a hike a bike. Huh, this was way steeper than it looked in the profile. As w neared the top my memory of the map became clearer, we weren't even CLOSE to the big climb of the day.
Through a few more road sections and some trail we finally popped out at the base of the climb. I settled in for good this time and rode my tempo, knowing what power I could sustain. After setting the tempo for the group on the lower part of the climb riders started to push it a little and gap me halfway through. I did what I could, knowing that there was still 3 miles of climbing to come and rode steady. I wasn't really paying attention, but afterwards that Mary McConneloug (pro rider and previous Olympian) was having a rough morning and was sitting right on my wheel the majority of the climb. This only came to realization when she found me after to thank me for dragging her up the hill to rejoin the group (she ended up going on to win the stage in the women's field). So yeah, having a Olympian thank you for helping them out- pretty cool.
The rest of the day consisted of some of the rockiest terrain I've ever ridden. The ride up Tussey Ridge was incredible and to ride across a ridge line like that was quite an experience. As fun as that was, when I got to the enduro downhill section immediately after, I felt like I was moving at half speed. Weird. Really weird. It was one of those days...
Which brings us to the last stage of the event. A 26 mile Xcode event that had us riding the singletrack I sand mountain in both directions. We had done portions of this trail in the prologue, so I was encouraged by the fact that I'd be seeing something familiar. I ran into Ben at the start and he asked me " so are you racing today or are you cruising?" I answered "yes".
I had no grand plans for the last stage. Have fun. If I felt like racing and that's what I was in the mood for, the. Great. If I felt like chilling, the so be it. But regardless of how I chose to ride I was determined to enjoy the ride. It was a perfectly sunny day. The trails were dry. There was no 'tomorrow's stage'. Nothing to do but go enjoy riding my bike.
At the start of stage 7 I rolled out with Ben at a pretty casual pace. We wound our way through some of the campground roads and into some of the singletrack there. The second we dove into the trail, however, the switch flipped. I wanted to go fast on y bike today. I busted a move through the tight, twisty flowing trail and got out to sand mountain road. We climbed up the road always and made our way into the single track from the prologue. I was enjoying myself.
The sand mountain. Singletrack was part of the east coast rocks competition, so when we got there I swiped in and started to absolutely CRUSH myself trying to sprint though every corner and wheelie drop every xobstacle. I was having fun.
Towards the end of the east coast rocks section I caught up with Chris Cyr, who surprised me at the start line by taking off like a shot himself. He was sitting 7th in his age group only a few minutes back of the riders ahead of him, so he figured he'd see what he could do today.
As we got to the double track climb at the end of the east coast rocks I realized that I was riding with Chris and probably 3 other guys from his category- I went into teammate domestique mode. very climb I sat there and methodically tapped out tempo making sure Chris was in the group. The we'd take turns ripped down the single track. Panther run road was a roughly 3 mile section of -2 percent washed out logging road grade that was just miserable to try to ride down. Half way down I swear I went blind from trying to scan 4 different rideable lines for rocks or washout that would kill me. So I was happy here when Chris took over for a bit.
We rode together for the rest of the day, I kept the pace just high enough for him on the roads and kept him motivated - he was thankful for the help afterwards. Of course, when we looked at the results he ended up 4th in the stage, 32 seconds off of the podium. Whoops. Other than that we just had fun ripping down the trails. Enjoying being on our bikes, and savoring the last few dusty breathes of single track summer camp.
So to get back to the original question on the day of " so Greg are you racing or chilling today?" Somehow I managed to keep the answer "yes".
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