Single Track Attack Race Report
So Jane and I both had the opportunity to race on Sunday, July 18th at the Hillside, Single Track Attack race in Elk River, Minnesota. The pre-ride on Saturday was awesome and I was really excited to do this race.
They do things a little different in Minnesota. They have a lot more racers (339 at this race), so they have Citizens race first around 9:30 or so, then Sport went off at 11 am. Jane did the Sport Women’s race, so I could race in the afternoon. She did well, came in second place in her age category and I think 8th Woman in Sport. Pretty good for a Mom who just rides when she can. It was probably really nice for her to have a large group of women to race with fro a change, I think there was 15 or 16 women in her start group. By having different categories go at different times, this also allows them to use specific sections for the different categories (take out the really technical stuff for Citizen & Sport).
Jane started and finished with a smile at this race. (That one chick in the red sleeleless sure looks butch...)
Jane was only a "day racer" and did not get a call up to the front, so she had to start at the back.
Jane & I shared a bike and both used the 29er in the sweet flowing single track. Good times.
I hung out with the kids while Jane raced and obviously took some photos. Once she was done, I had about 10 minutes to change and get warmed up for the Comp Category race. (They don’t have Expert, just Elite/Pro above Comp).
The PRO & Elite Men sent first, the PRO & Elite Women, then Comp Men. Just like Jane, I had to be in the back portion of about 40 men (30-39 men). They had the course set up with a Prologue, down a gravel road (passed a few dudes there), hard right up a hill under some power lines, (picked off about 3 or 4 more up the climb), then down the hill and a hard right to go a few hundred meters more down the road (picked off another 5 or 6 there). Then you entered the single track, at this stage we are probably only about 90 seconds into the race. The rest of the race was in really beautiful, flowing single track, mostly rolling terrain. Lots of small valley features were you go up and down the sides. I managed to just continue to pass guys throughout the race, only got passed by the Comp Single Speed winner. The trails are pretty tight, so you had to take advantage of small opportunities to pass and do it quickly.
Cranking it up at the start, only about 40 guys in my way...
The night before we there were really bad storms and the course had 2 inches of rain (even tornadoes in the area), but the sandy soil made for perfect, high traction and fast conditions. The course had about 1000 feet of climbing per lap, the climbs were mostly side hill, with switch backs and really fun, it was tough when racing, but all middle ring fast and rideable. There were about half dozen rock garden and a few surprise rock ledges etc around some uphill corners, but mostly, just FAST flowing and fun. They manage to fit about 7 miles of single-track into 80 acres.
The organizers did an amazing job. They had a crew of a dozen guys on the trail at 5am cutting out the trees that fell onto the course during the storm the night before. All starts were on time (to the minute). They had a couple of water stations on the course, tunes (cranking out from a RedBull truck with Video Games on the back). Results are posted pretty much as they happen, so within 5 minutes of finishing, you can go see how you did… They just kept on adding results sheets as racers finished. Then, when it came time for prizes, they give out draw prizes specific to each category. For Comp they must have called at least 25 names and probably gave away over $1000 worth of prizes, JUST FOR THE COMP CATEGORY. They did the same for the other categories and for the kids (every kid got something, mostly MP3 players). Incredible!
Anyway, in the end, I came in 4th for my age group, 12th out of 75 in Comp and only 39 seconds back from the win (for my age group). Guess I should have used the brakes a little less…
It was an awesome time & awesome event. It’s no Tinker and it was no Back 40, but a close second for cool races.
July 20th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Great job kevin.You rock!!!! It’s fun getting out of town to race.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Sounds like a great, well run event. It’s always interesting to hear how things are done elsewhere. Thumbs up to both you and Jane for the good finish.
August 3rd, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Sounds awesome. I’d like to go race somewhere sometime. A good family day – is it annual?
August 3rd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I believe that race has happened in the past (annually), just part of the Minnesotta state series (like our cup series). I also did a race in Red Wing about 4 years back, that was awesome too, really nice course as well. I think they get it when it comes to building courses.
The race in early Sept at Maplelag is supposed to be awesome as well, it is a stage race, with the XC as the main race. Not even that far from Manitoba – about the same as driving to Fargo from what I can tell.
http://www.mnmtbseries.com/page/show/4833