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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Ryan Rumsey
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Wednesday, 11 July 2007 |
and a Kingdom Trail adventure
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The last 2 weeks have been filled with tons of summer fun.... swimming, riding, traveling, hiking, driking coffee, and oh yeah... racing. Three weeks, 3 races... Biddeford, Moody Park, and Harding Hill. Ouch!! These races come at difficult time during the fitness plan, but I don't work during the summer so I can handle it.
After a hard training week and a lackluster Biddeford race, I had tried to go to Moody Park a little more rested. It kind of payed off, I was able to keep it together for the entire 4 laps and feel some power on the pedals.
 | | click to enlarge |
Moody Park is definitely one of the best race courses in the EFTA series with fast, fun, and flowing singletrack. I really felt like the Mamasita 29er was at home in the flowing high speed terrain, could definitely feel the flow of the big wheels. After really racing with a small group, I ended up 3rd and had a chance to stand on the podium. Moody Park is kind of a long trip, but worth it since the best part comes after the race on the way home. There is a local swimming hole that I learned about a few years ago. A series of water falls and deep pools flowing through the granite. Its always intersting to get there to see what kind of locals are enjoying the summer heat. I was not dissapointed when I arrived to find 2 little (really pudgy) kids swimming like fish in the cold water. Right away they started showing me all the best stuff, jumping off the rocks sliding down the fall into the pools, warning me about the hidden dangers. Unfortunately I was only there to clean off and float around in the cold water.
I spent 4 days last week at the Kingdom Trails with Anders and Kelley. The daily agenda included hiking, riding, swimming, eating, playing cribbage, etc... I won't say too much about the Kingdom trip, but will include a little highlight slideshow.
 | | 300ft deep cold water Lake Willoughby |
 | | Anders catching an afternoon snooze |
 | | Base Camp at Lake Willoughby |
 | | Breakfast of Champs |
 | | Mt Pisgah above the lake |
 | | Recovery Drink |
 | | Ryan and Kelley Hiked Mt Pisgah |
The week ended with the Horror at Harding Hill, a race I have never done before. My legs were junk, but my attitude was good. I went into it with a plan to ride a hard first and last lap, since I knew I only had so much in the tank. Needless to say I sufferred severly with tired legs, but I was able to back off and keep a good rhythm. The Mamasita is just so fun to ride that I was psyched on the rooty singletrack sections. My results were not great, but with blue skies, hot temps, and a great post race swim in Sunapee Lake, the day was worth it. The 3 weeks of riding and racing were brutally hard, but totally fun.
Ryan
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; "click to enlarge")
; "click to enlarge")
; "300ft deep cold water Lake Willoughby")
; "Anders catching an afternoon snooze")
; "Base Camp at Lake Willoughby")
; "Breakfast of Champs")
; "Mt Pisgah above the lake")
; "Recovery Drink")
; "Ryan and Kelley Hiked Mt Pisgah")
