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Plattekill Mountain Challenge |
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Written by Doug Southwick
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008 |
Plattekill Mountain Challenge
Roxbury, NY
08/17/2008
 Brutal, that was what I was told by a beginner after his 1 lap race. It was a beautiful day in the Catskills, partly cloudy, slight breeze and not too hot. It was pretty much perfect conditions for the Plattekill Mtn Challenge which was stop #1 on the five race NYS Catskill Series. If you have never been to Plattekill, its a classic old school Ski area that has previously been ranked in the top 3 places to ride and race downhill in the entire United States. Some of their XC races have been started at the top of the Mountain, but not today.
I had a tough time deciding between racing Expert (my age group) or Expert SS, but the memory of my derailleur going into my spokes at the Mount Snow Championships was enough of a deciding factor. So, I set up my Salsa El Mariachi as an SS for this race.
 I only spotted 3 other bikes setup SS, and I was disappointed to find out one was racing Sport SS and the other Semi-pro. For the first time in my life I was doing a XC race against myself. My "group" was combined with the Expert 50 & Expert women at the start, and this combined group was scheduled as last to go. I decided my motivation was to use the expert age group riders that left 1,2,3 or 4 minutes before me as rabbits and chase down as many as I could.
 So its finally our turn to go, the start is flat for about 50 feet, then you start climbing a fire road, then a ski slope, then single-track and you don’t stop until you are 1100 feet higher and 1.3 miles further. One might think now I am the top of the Mtn, it should either be flat or down but guess again. Up top there sure is some sweet single-track but there’s also more climbing! We wonder around up top hitting rocks, roots, mud, & logs - pretty fun so far. And this whole time I have been reeling in some of those rabbits. The last one I have been chasing for around 2 miles, and finally pass him on the last climb before its time to head all of the way back down. I noticed he's on a fully (I was on a hard tail) and I didn’t want to slow him down so I try to stay off the brakes as much as possible. Our speed is increasing as we hit loose baby heads, burms, shale and jumps...the trail smooths out some but we are still headed down, now two water bars in a row and some serious air time. He's still on wheel as my eyes are watering from the speed. We catch another rider and fly right by them. One little up hill, then we pop out of the woods and the last section is crazy fast as you go down an open ski slope to the start/finish...we both agree that was pretty sick!
 My lap # 2 was pretty similar to lap #1, reel in some more of the geared experts on the big climb, then enjoy the singletrack up top. Now, I come upon my friend Bryna (who races PRO) and she informs me she just wasted several minutes by going off course, apparently some tape was broken by a non racer that was doing some lift assist riding. She’s not happy but at least now she's back on course. Bryna and I have in previous races ended up riding with each other, which usually is a good thing being we keep each other motivated. At the end up lap #2 she's a few seconds back but as I start the big climb for the third time I realize I am fried. She goes by and I won’t see her again until after the race. I end up walking a lot of the climbs and my pace is more on the endurance level then race level. It was a struggle but I eventually finish, and check my cyclometer - my lap # 3 ended up taking me 12 minutes longer then the average of the first two, and a couple of the experts I passed paid me back by catching up and passing me. Ouch.
So, 22 miles, close to 5000 ft of climbing and almost 3 hours of racing...yup that beginner was right, brutal! But, I can’t wait for next years Plattekill Mtn Challenge!
Doug
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