The Hibernator
by John Sumner • October 26, 2023
One night at 3AM in Early October I was unable to sleep. Found myself looking at Bikereg for a MTB race. The Hibernator came up and I assumed it was longer and renamed Circumburke.Nope, not the case at all! RWGPS was downloaded into my K2 and for some reason I thought it was 48 miles and 4800' climbing, because RWGPS told me this. Again nope.
Race day and I lined up with eighty other riders, no pre-ride or course knowledge to go by. Only my K2 pre-loaded map and white course markers. Soon, I realized you can just expect to climb then enjoy fast descents with a lot of man made birms to lean into around corners. Lots of roots and rocks with mostly leaf covered singletrack. The low temps and light rain made me trust my Schwable Racing Ralph and Nobby Nic around corners. However, the ground was soft and this was sapping my speed. Also, I found my rear tire was a bit soft so I stopped to add air. This made a big difference in energy consumption.
Most of the day was in no man's land and in the many fields we crossed I could see I was not too far ahead of or behind two groups. I was passed a lot but would get ahead of them as they seemed to stop frequently. A rare moment when I overtook a couple guys down a hill, we wound up taking a wrong turn, then the whole group behind also followed. I saw on my K2 the correct way and told them, however they were not sure. I pushed on and did not see many of those folks again.
The final five miles consisted of a really fast and flowing downhill then a fast road section. Unfortunately, what I did not realize was that the last two miles was a climb. So once again settled into a grinding climb. At the top we had a fast downhill on a gravel road to the finish.
Overall I was in the 30's out of 86 ish, therefore not a bad day in the saddle for me.
Credit to Kona HeiHei race Light, Schwalbe Tires, Girodanna cycling kits. No flat tires, punctures, mechanicals and comfort all day!
This is a very well run event. Check it out!