6 Hours at WoodstockWhere: Woodstock, MD
When: June 25, 2017
Event: 6 hour marathon/endurance race
Joël 1st single speed, Jess 1st open women
This was our first time racing 6 Hours at Woodstock (6 HAW). Located in Patapsco State Park, we were looking forward to riding the trails there. We have only ever ridden in Patapsco once before, during a race, we enjoyed it and were interested in going back for more. Our racing buddy Jen is one of the main organizers behind 6 HAW, so it was great to help support her and her sponsor Joe's Bike Shop.
Accommodations the night before the race was camping in Patapsco State Park campground. A decent place to stay, nothing noteworthy, just your typical state park. It was about a 20 to 30 minute drive from the campground to the race start location.
Race morning we set-up the van as usual, making sure it was cool and roomy for Cliff for the day. Our pit location for the race was simple, no tent or anything, just a small card table with race nutrition on it and a cooler to keep our bottles cool. We set-up our stuff between tents of teams that were racing; they offered the spot and offered to help us during the day, which was quite a nice offer. One interesting part about all of this- parking and the pit area was on an old landfill. Nice way to re-use the space.
The course was a 10 mile loop; a pretty fast loop that had a little bit of everything. It was mostly smooth trail but there were some rocky sections, a few log overs, a creek crossing, and lots of short steep ups and downs. A few times the trails went along a creek, which was beautiful to look at and later in the day kids were swimming in it which was fun to watch (and a little envious also because that looked much cooler and less painful than what I was doing). Interesting sights along the trail included an old car that had a plastic skeleton in it, crossing under the interstate overpass, and this picturesque old quarry with an abandoned boat in it. Overall it was a fun course that tested even the best racers but was inviting enough for beginners. It was a good pick for an endurance event.
It was an uneventful race for me. I felt good the entire time, pushed just the right a amount, and had no mechanicals. Joël's body did fine but he did have one equipment problem- a broken shoe. A mid-race stop at the van for some tape to fix it was needed.Being that this was a six hour lap race, the goal was to complete as many laps as possible in six hours. There were both solo and team divisions. Joël and I each put in six laps, good enough for each of us to win our division. We were rewarded with tasty post race food and beer and prize money to put in our pockets for the way home.
All in all a great event. All aspects of it were well done. We definitely plan to be back.
-Jess and Joël