Race Report : Scotty Graham Memorial @ Mt Hood

Ahhh, the last race of the year ! I thought the Firecracker would be my last, as I was feeling burnt out on racing for the season, but voicing this thought was met with cries of derision from my fellow racers, who convinced me to attend the last race. Curiously, many of these 'deriders' did not show up for the final event ! One reason to attend was that they'd be handing out the series awards, for points accumulated for the 4 SkiBowl races. I'd only hit 2 races, but was tied for 3rd in the standings.

As is usual for the Mt Hood area, you never know what you're going to get weather-wise. The previous day the high temp had been in the mid-forties, so I packed the goretex sox and a huge array of additional layers. But it turned out sunny and 70F, so donned the usual racing attire.

Felt kinda crappy doing my warmup intervals - not surprising since the previous day I had suffered similarly in my day-before intervals : hyperventilating, wheezing and feeling an asthmatic-like inability to gulp in enough air. It was a decent size start-group at the line for my heat : 8 40+'s, and a few women, singlespeeders, and assorted cripples and freaks. As expected, my start sucked : most of the pack surged ahead of me, including some of the women. I held back, knowing pushing it would only cause premature wheezilation. As the single-track approached, 5-10 minutes into the race, I went for a little surge, and passed a half-dozen riders. Soon hit some technical loose climbing, and the gap widened. At the start-line, I had heard the names of 2 uber-fast riders who regularly clean my clock [whatever the f*ck that means], so I knew only 3rd place was reasonably within reach. But then heard the name of another guy who beat me handlily the last race, so I knew even the 3rd spot would be tough to attain. I thought I saw this dude quite a ways ahead of me while we were still in the open.

Soon enough we were in the deep forest, and I was isolated in my own space. No noise of others ahead, nothing from behind. I lapsed into a relaxed tempo, not really caring to push it, and feeling that a good result was beyond my grasp today. On a switch-backing climb, I did catch a fleeting glimpse of a jersey ahead and above moving between trees, but it was too far away for motivation.
Came out into the open again, and could see what I assumed was the 'bronze medal dude', still way ahead of me. Did a time-check against a reference point, and measured the gap at around 50 seconds. Did the downhill back to the resort area, and commenced the second lap. Once again into the big trees and the silence. But after 10 minutes or so, hear a rider approaching from behind - oh-oh, somone's catching up! But I see the red plate designating a Pro rider, and let him by (they are doing some other combo of loops). This gets me going a bit, and try to match his pace for a spell. A few minutes later, another red plate, and I push some more. Coming out of the trees, I wonder if this 'pushing' has reduced the gap to bronze-guy (or did the same happen to him?), and see that it has. Now looks like less than 30 seconds !

Up Horse-Trail we go, a long steep loose climb. Bronzy's front tire washes out, he starts walking, and I'm right on his tail. I make some comment about the loose trail as I ease by him, and he grunts in response - hmm he does not appear happy to see me :) On a flat area he gets back on the bike, and is soon right behind me. But I am in the choice climbing line as it gets steep again, so he can't easily get by. I stay on the bike all the way up, and I guess he was off again, because by the time I reach the top I have got a nice gap. Next comes a downhill fire-road, leading into the technical downhill that finishes the second lap. I know the dude behind me is a fast descender, probably faster than me, so I keep it pinned. But as I start the 3rd lap I can see he's made up some of the gap. The last lap we have a shorter technical ride through the trees, and then up the main road to the last downhill. I rail the tree'd trail, and begin ascending the last climb. Start going into the red on the HRM, and see dude is close behind. It's now or never and I pin it up the climb. Drop into the downhill, and looks like I've dropped him as well.

I do indeed get third at the line, and second overall for the series. Only 2 and 4 minutes behind #2 and #1, so something to go on for next season. The dude I passed, who was pretty chatty with me last race, leaves the finish area quickly, and does not return for the little ceremony afterwards with prizes, raffle and beer.