2016 Spring Update- IIGO Relay, Rattling, Michaux Maxiums, Brady's Run, and Long Socks Classic

This year the blog will be a little different. The quadcopter suffered an unfortunate accident; crashing to the ground and is now in a tupperware container in the basement.  In addition, Joël has decided he wants to concentrate more on riding than with fiddling around with the GoPro during races.  As much as we enjoy making the videos and we know many of you look forward to watching them, for the most part videos will be put on hold this year. We will still create videos and write adventure reports on interesting places we ride and travel; but races will primarily be a write-up and photos as the main feature.

This racing season has gotten off to a weird start. The Winter months of 2016 were abnormally warm, however Spring came along with tons of rain and colder than normal temperatures.  Many races in the Mid Atlantic area were postponed or canceled due to aberrant weather, even a fluke mid-April snow storm. Thus, we have made decisions on the fly about where to go and ventured to new places to race.



Intergalactic Global Open Mountain Bike Team Relay
Place: Marysville, PA
Ridden: April 2, 2016
This event is more about having fun than racing. Held on the family farm of race director Mike Kuhn, people come together to catch-up after the winter, drink beer, and ride bikes. Laps are approximately two miles in length and have a little bit of everything; but the main feature of this race is log over after log over.  The transition area where team members change riders is party central, teams set up tents, grills, and everyone just hangs out for the day and heckles riders that are on course.  Teams can vary from four riders to solo riders; Joël and I each rode solo for the day. Speed is not the winner of this race, after an in depth handicapping system put in place by the race director anyone can win.  Of course it's still interesting to see how one does against others in their situation when race results are available; I was fastest solo female.  Joël rode most of the race with me (Duo!), so who knows how he really did. In addition to the relay, Joël also took part in the biathlon. Some riding and some shooting made his day complete.



Rattling Off-Road Marathon
Place: Halifax, PA
Ridden: April 17, 2016
A freak mid-April snowstorm pushed this race back a week.  Sure, that was fine, we didn't want to ride in the snow but also a bit of a bummer because it now overlapped with another race we wanted to do, Mooch Maddness. Of course Rattling won out, it's a MASS (Mid Atlantic Super Series) race and we want to get MASS points. Weiser State Forest, the location of the race, has a reputation to have more rocks than many other places. And it does. This race covers some amazing single track and it certainly is not lacking in rock gardens and technical trails. Most of the race occurs along the ridge, so with a few exceptions, the climbs and descents are rolling. The exceptions to this is the neutral starting climb (which is not part of the race, just the way to the start); and the descent at the end. This descent is where the race really got interesting for me. Friend and fellow female racer Jen and I decided to really make it a race down this section to the end. I had caught and passed her just at the top of the rocky, enduro-worty trail down the mountain. Both Jen and I took chances we probably wouldn't normally take and raced each other to the finish, which included a moto-style skid around a corner in which I almost took Jen out (once again, sorry Jen!). In the end, I maintained the pass and stayed in second place. As for Joël, he rode with the front-runners the entire race and in a stacked field of almost 60 men he placed eighth.



Michaux Maximus Marathon Race
Place: Michaux State Forest, PA
Ridden: May 1, 2016
Looking out the window race morning was disheartening, it was pouring rain and cold. As we packed the van I wondered what I was doing; why not just crawl back into my warm bed and enjoy sleeping in for once. But nope, off we went to the race, packing winter riding gear to wear for the day.  Races at Michaux are no joke and are not to be taken lightly, they truly are back country racing. The trails are rugged and test even the most skilled riders.  I spent most of the race saying to myself "oh shit, just don't die". As the race went on, the rain slowed down to just a light drizzle.  Sure, it wasn't pouring anymore but the rocks were still wet and the mud was thick.  I knew I had the lead right from the start, but didn't know how far ahead I was, so I kept a good pace and kept motoring along. Close to the end I caught up to friend and fellow training partner Kerry and he and I pushed the pace together until the finish. It was nice to have a friend help me keep going when tired.  After a cold and wet day, my effort was rewarded with the overall female win. Joël was happy with his race, having pushed hard and having the skill to ride many of the technical areas cleanly, and earned himself third overall male.

6 Hours of Brady's Run
Place: Pittsburg, PA
Ridden: May 7, 2016

This race was a last minute decision.  The race we had planned and registered for was postponed due to torrential rains during the week in Eastern PA.  The Brady's Run race had always intrigued Joël and I, so with our schedule now open as of Thursday evening, we quickly packed the van and decided to head out after work on Friday. We split the drive; sleeping for the night at a rest stop and finishing the last few hours of the drive on race morning. This was a new race for us, so neither Joël nor I knew what to expect.  Both solo racers and teams started together; and there were three hour and six hour racers out on the course at the same time, so it was darn near impossible to know who one was racing.  Thus, the goal of the day was to just keep pushing hard and don't slow down.  The course had some difficult climbs, which became more difficult lap after lap. In addition, the technical descents became more sketchy as we became tired.  By the time the day was over, Joël and I each rode well over six hours on a tough course, and wow, we felt beat-up.  But for a last minute decision, it was a great race to attend and we each did well.  Joël was fourth overall male and I was second overall female.

Long Socks Classic Marathon
Place: Ganaraska Forest Center, Port Hope, ON, Canada
Ridden: May 21, 2016
Substance Project races are awesome, so we couldn't pass up the chance to head on up to Canada and take part in another one of Dan's races. We also had family in the area, so it was a dual weekend of racing and family time.  After spending the night in a casino parking lot (it actually was quite a nice place to sleep; there was a separate parking area for RVs to stay overnight) we felt ready to go on race morning. The race was a double loop of approximately 20 miles of single track and double track that had fast, flowy, sweeping trails with punchy climbs and deep sandy areas; not many rocks or roots but lots of corners to keep racers on their toes. What made this race great was all the other racers. Both Joël and I had people to ride with and talk to the entire race. Nothing helps the time go by more quickly and helps keep one pushing that having someone else there to ride with.  I finished second; little did I know but after the race the first place female said she could see me during all the twisty single track.  I didn't know she was that close to me. Could I have pushed a little harder and bridged the gap? Who knows. Joël put in a hard effort to finish fifth.  Sure, it was a bit of a drive to get to this race but beer as prizes and a surprise visit from Joël's family made the drive well worth it.

                                             
So those are our spring races thus far. It has been a lot of driving, thank goodness for the van so that we can sleep in odd places. We have tried new races, and repeated some of the races that we enjoy. Now it's onward to Trans-sylvania Epic.  Looking forward to a week at Single Track Summer Camp