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Orchard Assault |
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Written by D. Southwick
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Sunday, 11 May 2008 |
Orchard Assault
Amherst,MA
April 4th, 2008
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My friend Jason and I raced the Orchard Assault XC race this past Sunday May 4th. The race is put on by UMBRC (UMASS bicycle racing club) and held right at their campus in Amherst, MA. My race wasn’t until 1:00pm, but Jason races sport and his race was at 10:15am so there was no sleeping in for me. We were on the road at 7:30 for the 1:45 drive over. Orchard Assault has a grass roots feel to it, no big sponsors, and no concern about series points, leaders’ jersey’s or anything like that…just a good time racing your bike.
The course is on the short side, so they upped the number of laps for experts to 5 (pro’s did 6). Last year I did this race on my SS in much dryer conditions, today I’ll be on my 9 speed Salsa El Mariachi. Another thing that would make the day interesting was there was no expert 40-49, but instead I’d racing in the expert 30+ category.
The course is really fun; tons of tight turns, several switchbacks, and short steep climbs in the woods combined with a section out in a grassy field. The beginners and sport groups left us with a lot of mud to contend with. The muddy conditions made the course very challenging, there was several sections that were just too muddy and steep to do anything except the old hike a bike thing. It was great to be back pushing hard and racing in the woods. That was quite a few spectators in the woods, which always adds to the excitement. I felt good but I guess the other guys must have felt better, and by mid race I knew I was out of podium contention. I decided to change my race goal to beating my last years time of 2:01 (that time was good enough for the SS podium). So by the start of lap 4 I figured it would be pretty close, but doable. And thanks to the motivation by an expert 19-29 guy that caught me on the end of lap 4, I threw down on lap 5 to what I believe to have been my fastest lap of the day. My total time, 1:57. Racing, getting muddy and hanging with fellow racers was definitely not a bad way to spend my birthday!
Douglas
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; "click to enlarge")
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