Blog

The Warlock's Winter Challenge is still a new race to the MTB scene only in its second year but is already drawing a great crowd of local riders. We don't seem to have very many late-season options as CX takes off and gravel wraps up. The cold mornings and short days send many of us to the trainer. When my friend Delaine Peris sent me the invite, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to sneak in one more sprint to the finish line. The course is located across four different private properties in beautiful Palmyra, PA, and includes three small ponds, grass hills, cornfields, rows of nursery trees, and a couple of back and front yards. Race morning met us with frosted grass and crunchy mud. The temps were cool, but thankfully there wasn't much wind, and the clouds cleared out just in time for the sun to dry out the mud as fast as it was melting the frost. The course is only around 2.5 miles per lap; I knew they would be fast. This race would be my first time stepping up to the Elite open category after finishing my CAT 2 season in the MASS series with a series win in my age group. I was excited to see how I would perform after a month off since finals and with the added laps and increased speed and ability of my competition. I was ready for another challenge.

We arrived early in the morning, so I could head out for a pre-ride to survey the course. It starts low by the ponds and sends you off into a slight climb up a few grass hills and over a driveway before sending you into a patch of forest. After a quick zig-zag through some tight flat switchbacks, you are off into the woods again. I quickly found this course to have a deceiving amount of climbing that I had to be sure not to let drain me. While nothing was a significant accent, the long gradual climbing paired with the short distance of each lap offered few opportunities to recovery. You were working for that finish line cupcake the whole lap. After a brief stint in the woods, you come into the backyard of a cute little home, circle around their front yard, down their driveway back into the woods. Along the way, you are met with a few multiple-choice trials. Do you choose short but hard or long and easy? The more accessible lines proved faster in my pre-ride, and I stuck with them in the race. Surprisingly there was little mud until you've almost reached the finish. You bob and wave the nursey trees before a hairpin turn that puts you right into a succession of mud pits all deep with thick mud, one offering a slick skinny wood bridge that gives you a short break if you can hit it. Once you break free from the grasp of the muck, it's a slow grass incline to the finish.

When we were up to start, we lined up three wide and waited for the beep. From the start, 1st place tore off, and I did not see her again. I battled back and forth, leapfrogging for all four laps with my competition for second place. I was following closely on lap three when she decided to take a short but tricky line at one of the splits. I took this opportunity, and I sent the easy chute as fast as I could. It worked; I came out of the other side with the lead. I worked hard to keep this distance. It was the first time we had some space between us. I came out of the woods, and there is a short downhill section along a grass field here where you can recover. I pedaled through and headed towards the mud pits, determined not to let them slow me down. It was an actual test of the legs at this point, trying to push through to keep my lead into the fourth lap. The mud took a little more than I wanted, and not long into the grass climbs, and she was right on me again. I pushed to hold her off but not give too much. We hung together for a bit but eventually, I was passed again and watched the distance between us slowly grow as my legs explained their displeasure with my efforts. I finished third, just a couple of minutes behind second. I celebrated by indulging in a cupcake from Spring Road Sweets and some fried pickles from The Chubby Unicorn, two of the vendors who graced the event and warmed up my toes by the bonfire.