Glacial Hills of Bellaire

What a Great Weekend!

Tailwind pulled out all the stops to come up with a world class event and the hit it out of the park. The Glacial Hills of Bellaire XC race was awesome! In its first year, this race already has the makings to become something really big. With some of the best trails I have ever ridden in the USA!!! A great welcoming small northern Michigan town to host the event, a downtown start, and one of the best micro breweries in the world as a sponsor, which is Short's Brewery, I had a permanent smile on my face for the entire weekend.

To make it even better, I was able to spend this time with great friends. Many laughs were had, and a few too many drinks where consumed, but it just added to the memories of a great time. I can't wait to do this race next year.

As for the race its self, Well, I had one hell of a hang over... Not typically something I do before a race, but it happens.. So I was not expecting much, but I was still going to push as hard as I could and see if I would have a good day or a bad day.

The first 2 miles was a long steady climb up a paved road to the single track. This would have been great for me any other time, but my head started pounding and I pushed to stay near the front. Half way up the hill a buzz of wheels and instantly 10 riders go down. It was nasty, but I was able to avoid it. we neared the trail head, and then the attacks started. 2 M-22 local guys hit the trail and never looked back. Dub-9 chased. I was stuck behind Dan Sterling and the rest of the pack followed. Dan soon started to slow down, so I was able to finally find a spot to pass. When I did I started to open up a gap. The trail is a perfect blend of speed and flow. Its almost 90% bench cut into the hills and is like a fine sculpture more than a single track trail. I was starting to get into a groove and push my limits. All while gain a little more time around each turn. Then I came around a blind corner on a steep down hill, and did not see the 90 degree right hand turn coming! UGH! I blew through the turn and found myself about 20 feet into the woods. I stopped and saw my entire class pass me by! Damn it! I ran my bike back to the trail and started to chase. By now they had already gained 20 seconds on me. I pushed hard and soon caught the tail end of the group. I knew it was going to be hard to pass because the trial was so fast. But I began to pick of guys one by one.

By the start of the 2nd lap, I had finally worked my way up to Aryn and Robert Parrish. We made some hard attacks and finally were able to drop the rest of the group. We all thought that we were racing for 4-6th at this point, so we all pushed hard, and took digs at each other to see who was fading. None of us budged.

With about 2 miles to go, a few riders from the 40-49 group caught us. When they started to go around, Aryn made a move to jump on. I was able to latch on as was Robert. Aryn was turning the screws and it was hurting. Now my hangover was reminding me that it was still present as my quads began to slowing cramp. Aryn Pushed until we hit the paved road back down to the finish. He opened up a quick 500 meter gap, and was pedaling as hard as he could to get away. I chased, and soon was able to catch him. I never pedaled so hard down hill that my legs hurt as bad as they did.

We hit the grass before the finish and back into the woods a bit. Aryn was continuing to turn the screws. I was at my max. And legs were cramping worse. I made one more push to try and catch, and began to close the gap once more. But it was not enough. Aryn took 5th by 1 second. I ended up 6th.

I was happy with how I felt considering, I back to rebuilding my endurance for CX, I took a long break 2 weeks ago, and I was hung over. So with 2 more MTB races to go, I hope to build up to some better results.

Congrats to Aryn and Robert. This was one of the best battles I have ever had in a race. And you guys rode smart and aggressive. See you at Stony!