Mudfest @ West Branch

This past sunday I took a short drive (1.5 hour) to West Branch State Park in Ohio for a race in the OMBC series. Since committing to the Mid Atlantic races, Michelle and I havn't been able to make any of these Ohio events except one back in May @ Mohican. I was looking forward to seeing the Ohio guys and gals and also really looking forward to the course @ West Branch. Most of these trails are built & maintained by a club called CAMBA. I must say there are some fabulous trails and I really enjoy racing here. In the past two years this course has proven to be a big ring hammer fest! Yes I would race the gears here because of the lack of climbing and abundance of fast rolling singletrack which doesn't lend well to the single speed. But this weekend Bob Myers (my Trek/Fisher rep) would be attending and he had just asked me why I don't race gears instead of the single speed so I wanted to show him just how well I can do with the handicap of a single speed drivetrain. Lucky for me it rained pretty heavy saturday and when i arrived at the venue I could see by the parking area that the trail would be wet & muddy. This type of trail condition is something I'm very familiar with due to my winter training rides hear in western pa.

Getting ready for the start i get a chance to catch up with everyone and what they've been up to, Chris Skinner, Ross Clark, SteveTwining, Gary Snodgrass, Tiffany Kenny and a few others. At the start I manage to place myself at the front line so I could hang on as we travel thru the open field area. Theres the word....go! I clip into my pedals and start cranking the 18T drive cog on my Gary Fisher Rig. Around the roadway and turning up into the muddy pathway cut thru the field I manage to pull into the lead. Knowing this won't last I try not to push the pace and eventually let a few riders back in front of me. Ben Ortt, Steve Twining, and Dave Walker all pull ahead of me but not by much. As the course rolled up and around to the section of rocky singletrack I found myself closing the small gap that the lead group had on me. Wow I was now riding in the pack with these three guys all with multi geared bikes! Again the course hit an open flat area at which time the leaders pulled away but I didn't get worried because we where about to enter the twisting slippery singletrack that follows the outside edge of the lake. Once again I found myself in the lead group and in fourth place only feet from the race leader.

Coming around for our first lap I crossed the line in the lead group with only tenths of a second difference. Now I had to hold on again thru the pathway in the field so i slid forward on my seat and prepared to raise the cadence (rpm of your pedals) to mantain my speed. Up and around we went tire to tire until Steve (in third) slipped up in the mud and dumped himself in front of me. With only a nanosecond to respond, I simply had no other choice than to unweight my bike and ride up and over Steve and his bike! Across the re axle, over the cranks and front wheel all while Steve is laying under the bike! I to do a semi slide but catch myself. Back up and off we go both laughing yet wanting to catch back up to the guys who took advantage of our mistake. Finally a few hundred yards later I catch the leaders only to watch Steve crank by me and steal the second place spot! Wow that was cool, I just rode over this dude and it never slowed him down! The three leaders Ben, Steve and Dave eventually pulled ahead again until the singletrack at which time I closed the gap back to a tire for tire race. Entering a tight 90 degree turn Dave slide out and I had to slow down at which time the two others pulled ahead. As we worked thru the lakeside trails Dave keep finding himself on the ground and it was slowly giving the others an advantage to build the time difference between us. Finally I worked past Dave but the others already where ahead by a bit. Oh well I'll just tough it out for one more final lap and see if I can hold Dave off and keep the gap between me and the leaders to a respectable time. I never pulled the leaders back into my sights but I did hold Dave and the others behind me off for a nice 3rd place finish. Bob Myers was there cheering us on and I got to show him just why I like to ride the Single Speed.

Two Awesome Guys (Chris Skinner & Bob Myers) along w/myself. Check back later for more information on these two individuals and the things they do for the future of mountain biking! I'm honored to have them as friends.