Blog

Bear Brook Classic
Marathon Single Speed
Allenstown, NH
October 1, 2022

The Bear Brook Classic has always been a fun event and it’s been a few years since I’ve done
this race, so maybe overdue. This year I decided to do the Single Speed Marathon, like the idea
of the extra miles plus this year it seems to be where the action was being the bigger SS class.
But even at that only seven of us signed up for the 36 mile ride, 4 laps of 9 miles.

And we’re off! And as usual a so so start but who cares, No one is going to win a race in the first
half mile. Ended up in third to start, kept a little patience going until the first sign of going up hill,
then time to make a move. Passed both riders on a short fire road climb before a single track
section. Ok, for a little while this just seemed too easy then after a couple of miles Nathen
Whipple caught back up to me in some fast sections and passed me for a short time. Luckily for
me the second half of course had some rolling hills, so I quickly realized I had to take advantage
of the rolling hills and single track of the second half of the course and put some time on the
other SSer’s so no surprises of anyone catching me.

By the end of the first lap feeling fairly comfortable about how I’m riding and things seemed to
settle and I found myself riding by myself. Then early on the second lap I got passed by Kelly
Catale, the leader of the women's class, which was good in some ways. It kept my brain in the
race, before I started daydreaming, and gave me a rabbit to chase. Super good rider, I knew I
wasn’t going to pass her but it got me to pick up the pace for a few miles. For the third and
fourth lap, it was fairly uneventful other than running into sport riders, which was fine and kept
you in the race so you didn’t feel like you were riding by yourself for the last two laps before the
finish!

Nice to finally get a win! It’s been a good while and at my age it could be the last time . Good
time and fun course, mostly all single track which was great with a couple well timed breaks and
all rideable. Maybe a bit on the fast side but great for riders who may be fairly new to racing.