10/09/05 - Boyne Challenge Cross Country Race

Sunday was the Boyne Challenge Cross Country Race, which is actually the Michigan Mountain Bike State Championship event. I was racing in the Sport Class and we were doing two laps of the 10.5 mile course. I knew I'd have no problem with the overall distance, but was a little concerned about the tight, twisty, and technical nature of the course. I love that type of riding, but I'm simply not used to it, and wasn't sure if I could keep up with these guys who ride it everyday.... I would soon find out.

The Pro, Expert, and Sport class racers were going off at 10am, so around 9:30am I started to get warmed up. It was probably 50 degrees out so I couldn't decide if I should wear tights and a long sleeve jersey OR go with typical summer race attire. Even though most of the racers were wearing tights and long sleeves, I decided to go with shorts and regular jersey. I'm glad I did.

They lined us up by age group and sent my group (35-39) off just after 10am. Just as I expected the pace was VERY fast right off the bat. I stayed near the back of the pack only because I basically just race for fun and didn't want to be holding up the fast guys in the tight singletrack that started about a half mile into the course. The pace was pretty damn amazing. These guys were flying. I kept up for a mile or two, but once the real tight singletrack started I just couldn't hang and began to drop back. I settled into my own pace and for awhile was riding by myself, but eventually caught a few guys and rode with them. About halfway thru the lap was the long climb up the golf cart path. I grinded up it pretty easily and actually caught and passed a few riders along the way. Once at the top I slammed down some PowerGel and headed for the singletrack that would take me back down the mountain to finish off the first lap. I think my time for lap 1 was about 55 minutes.

At the start of the second lap I felt pretty good. I knew I was pretty far behind the leaders, but just wanted to finish the race well and not really worry about my overall placing. For the first part of the lap I was riding with one other guy and we were setting a pretty good pace. I was leading him thru the tight stuff at a pretty good clip when IT happened. I felt one of my contact lenses pop out. SHIT!! All of a sudden I only had one eye to see, which made things real, um, interesting. It was tough to see all the roots and rocks, so I told the guy behind me to go on ahead because I needed to slow down a bit. A few other guys passed me, but I finally made it to the golf cart path climb without any major problems, although I did brush a tree or two just because it was hard to see some of the smaller ones. On the golf cart path climb, I caught one of the guys that passed me, then all of a sudden I heard the strangest sound coming up behind me...sorta like somebody having an asthma attack. It turned out to be the lead Pro class guy LAPPING me. He was flying up the climb and had some sort of strange breathing technique going. It didn't sound good, but it wasn't really slowing him down either. After the climb we headed back into more tight singletrack and the guy I was riding with pulled away again. Two more Pro/Elite guys passed me just before the final descent down the mountain. I came through the finish at 2 hours and 5 minutes. I figure I probably lost 5-10 minutes because of the contact lense issue, but at any rate I was still pleased with my results.

The trails at Boyne Mountain are truly amazing, and I really gotta hand it to Fun Promotions for setting up such an AWESOME race course. I don't think I've ever raced a course that flowed as nicely as this one did. There were several sections that required 100% concentration with not much time to rest or relax. It was pretty much constant up and down thru the trees with lots of tight turns and banked corners.... awesome stuff. Not only was the course great, but the overall organization of the event was first rate. I will be back next year!!

Race Details
Distance: 21 miles (two 10.5 mile laps)
Start Time: 10:00am
Temperature: 55 degrees!!
Class: Sport Male (35-39 age group)
Finish Time: 2:05

Race Day Food/Hyrdration
Pre-Race:
7:00am: Bagel, waffel, etc (Continental breakfast at Best Western yo)
7:30am: Met-RX Big 100 Nutrition Bar w/16oz water

During Race:
Water (Camelbak with about 40oz water)
PowerGel (4 servings mixed w/water)

Post Race:
Endurox R4 (18oz bottle)
Clif Bar
Pringles
Miscellaneous other stuff...

Bike Setup
Bike: Ibis Mojo
Front Tire: Kenda Nevegal (45 psi)
Rear Tire: Specialized Fast Trak Pro (45 psi)

The Slingshot Factory Team was at Boyne and had a few of their very cool bikes on display.