Home  Team BIKEMAN Race Reports King of Burlingame
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King of Burlingame |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Steve Morse
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Tuesday, 15 April 2008 |
King of Burlingame MTB Time Trial
Charlestown, RI
April 6, 2008
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The King of Burlingame is a pretty sweet race. It's a mountain bike time trial where they send riders off in 30 second intervals, a point to point 3/4 loop around some pond down in Charlestown. Last year, I quite handily won the sport race at ye olde KOB in the bone dry. Having moved up to expert this year, and the fact that it had been raining all week, things did not turn out quite the same as last year.
Brian Pierce and I warmed up on our road bikes, even doing a couple laps at the nearby Ninegret crit course. After that, I jumped on my new Salsa Mamasita, my weapon of choice for the 2008 season. It is very light for a big roller, and handles like a dream in the tricky stuff.
At the start line, I got the 3rd call-up, for having the 3rd fastest overall time from last year. Brian got to start first as he was the defending champ. I noticed some pretty big (pro) guns in the starting queue. They were starting behind me, which made me all the more nervous, knowing they would be hunting me down.
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So, anyway it was my turn, and I gunned it down the trail. Overall, the whole course was in pretty good shape, but several nice pools of mud and standing water came upon me mighty fast. The first mile or so of the course has a few really tricky rock gardens that were now nice and greasy. One of the rock gardens was even submerged in water. That's the one I flew into blindly, and came to a sudden stop since I didn't see the nice boulder that chocked my front wheel. This resulted in me having to dismount, and leg it through the rest of the section. In fact, before the race was over, I would have to do this at least 2 more times.
Some of the guys behind me caught up to me as I was flailing in the technical parts. This both annoyed and depressed me.
Once the technical debacles were over, I got to the fire roads and open paved sections, so I let 'er rip to try and catch the guys who passed me. The coaching I have been getting was definately felt in my legs. I felt like I could have ripped the cranks off the bike I was pedaling so hard. And the fitness was really good, I could go as hard as I wanted and not fatigure, so I guess that's a good sign. I was able to pass back one of the guys, and I started reeling another one back it. I had him in sight when I crossed the line.
So, a little bit slower time than last year, but far worse conditions. Technically I probably could have freaked out a little less, but the rest of the race I felt very good. I think I came in 2nd to less in my age group in Expert, but had a decent time overall when compared to other groups. Brian won our age group in Expert with a really fast time, but some 40 plus dude pimped him by a minute for the KOB crown (turns out the guy is the N.E. Single Speed Champion).
A fine kickoff to the 08 race season. Next week - time for some crit racing!
Steve
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Andrew Law, Lakewood, CA
Beginner MTB,
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