Home  Team BIKEMAN Bradbury Mountain Enduro
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Bradbury Mountain Enduro |
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Written by Andrew Freye
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Thursday, 16 August 2007 |
 Bradbury Mountain Enduro
July 29, 2007
After having a large amount of mechanicals in the beginning of the year due to old bike parts etc.. I decided to skip out on the NMBS in North Carolina and stay home to race Bradbury. The choice turned out to be a good one, because now I have at least one bomb proof bike, I got to race 30 miles of sweet single track, and the course down in N.C. still was sub par with lots of pavement! Bradbury Mountain has always been one of my favorite races, and this year I can call it my ‘home’ race now that I am living less than 10 miles from the park.
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On Saturday I met up with Wheels to pre ride the new trails on the mountain side. The park has been working very hard on getting land access to Tryon Mountain and this year they were finally able to accomplish it for the race! The trails were a little loamy and soft. Like on the non-mountain side of the park these trails had a lot of twists and turns, but unlike the non-mountain side there was a lot of short steep climbing to be done on Tryon Mountain.
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Race Day: The race started at 9:30 am with a Le Mans start. Over a hundred experts/pro’s attempted to run to their bikes before dashing into the single track. I was somewhere in the low 20’s going into the woods, but was calm and relaxed about my starting position. After making our way through some tight single track and short climbs I was able to move up into the top 10. At this point the course made its longest climb which switch backed up to the summit of Bradbury mountain. By the top of the mountain I was in 2nd place while Matt O’Keaf was hammering away. Through the 13 miles of sweet single track on Tryon Mountain I lead a comfortable lead over 3rd place and always had O’Keaf no less than 2 minutes ahead of me. I was feeling good and was trying to drink as much as possible since the temperature was in the 80’s. I think I was focusing too much on drinking and not eating enough though when I was on Tryon Mountain. When I made my way into the start field and crossed route 9 I ate a Cliff Bar, consumed some gel and took in some more fluids before heading into my trails.
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Non-Mountain Side: length 17 miles: I know these trails really well, I can ride them in either direction and know where every root is, so I was very glad to see the race end on this side of the mountain. Crossing route 9 I was two minutes down on O’Keaf and felt very confident I could close the gap. However, right at mid point of the race I started to bonk. I downed my bottle of Coke and took some more gels.  | | click to enlarge |
Old man Wheels caught up to me and passed me! For the next 7 miles or so I lost a lot of time, probably several minutes to O’Keaf and a couple minutes to Wheels. Going through aid station 2 at about mile 23 the Coke started to kick in and if found myself able to put some power to the pedals. I also found myself being chased by another rider I could not make out.  | | click to enlarge |
For the last 7 miles the unknown rider and I were hammering! I never lost my position, but the “ghost” kept on creeping up on me. He would close the gap to maybe 15 seconds one minute, and then be 45+ seconds back the next minute, and then out of know where be back up to 15 seconds. He seriously was like a ghost chasing me. In the last 3-4 miles of the race my legs started to cramp. Whenever I tried to stand up my hamstrings and quads froze forcing me back into the saddle. I realized as long as I stayed in the saddle I could fight off the cramping muscles. I crossed the finish line 3rd overall and 2nd for the open class.  | | click to enlarge |
If Wheels were to have stepped up and forked over the extra $15 to race in the open class he could have gone home a happy man with a wallet full of cash. I was a little disappointed with the result mainly because I bonked again and I don’t know why. When I talked with my parents who came down to watch they told me I finished only 2-3 minutes down from O’Keaf and that I really didn’t loose any time (they were unaware of the bonk at this point). This news lifted my spirits quite a bit because I knew I lost a lot more time to O’Keaf, but at the same time I was able to come back and regain all the lost time. Now I just need to figure out how to prevent the bonks from happening so I can beat these guys! The other good note that came out of this is that O’Keaf was in the top 15(?) at Mount Snow the prior weekend. So who knows what could have happened if I hadn’t bonked at Snow???
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Other Race notes: While I was in my own little world racing good friend Brian Firliet was hammering things out in the back of the open class and the sport field. See 5 miles into the race Brian’s derailleur drop out snapped leaving him with one option, single speed. It took Brian a good 15 minutes to switch his bike over to a single speed. Back on his bike and no more than two pedal strokes Brian found himself with a snapped chain! A good 5 minutes later Brian was in the middle of the sport field and trying to move his way up in a course with minimal passing. He had a strong finish and never cramped. I think if his bike hadn’t broken down on him he probably could have had one of his best race results. Way to go!
Wheels is still on fire. I am trying to convince him to upgrade to semi pro. He says he is too old, but look at Micheal Patrick who is 40, racing pro, and still going fast. Maybe Wheels will man up and upgrade over the winter.
A
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