Middle Mountain Mamma Race Report

What do you get when you mix 21.8 Miles with 4k feet of climbing on some of the best mountain bike trails in the country?

MIDDLE MOUNTAIN MOMMA

Sunday September 17th
Douthat Park

This is my home course. It much different from the tight, twisty stuff in the VaD series. Lots of climbing and lots of downhill. And, some really cool switchbacks. I didn't exactly do the race but I did ride the course with about an 1.5 hr late start. Almost felt like Ron for a minute starting late. I only get 4 vacation Sundays a year and so I can't do every race on Sunday. I just wish more races were on Saturday. I understand that "old school" use to be the race had to be on Sunday because the majority of people that raced were bike shop workers and they have to work on Saturday. But I think times have changed and more races should be moved to Saturday because more preachers are racing and they have to work on Sunday. Actually, I don't know any preachers that race Mtb. Oh well. Besides the power sport NASCAR races on Sunday and EVERYONE is a NASCAR fan. Personally, I don't see the grand appeal of it but most can't stand watching golf on TV and I love it.

So I called Kyle Inman and asked if I could do a late start. He came up with a great idea. I could be a Sweeper. Cool, ideas of secret ops came to mind. Covering up the mess that other people make. Hey wait, I already do that. The movie, "Men in Black" came to mind. I wonder if I would get my own device to erase people's memory. That might not be a bad idea after climbing Mountain Top. Man that's some steep stuff. I then tried to find a carbon broom to take with me but they cost too much. Forgoing the extra weight of a traditional wooden handle broom, I set off to "sweep" the course of all riders.

Within a mile of the start, a bee or something with a stinger landed on my leg and popped me really hard. I met my first rider, xpert pro, finishing. He looked too fresh to have done the whole course. I guess his finish time was somewhere around 2 hrs. That is totally sick. I hope to do the course in 3:15. Made it over to Stoney Run, plugged my MP3 in and began the climb. I road Stoney a little conservative because I knew that Mountain Top would eat me up. Top Stoney and began Salt Stump descent, that is a nasty descent, in 1:09. Heading down the descent I caught a rider. WOW, this guy must have been lost. He was a Jr Expert. He didn't say what happened and I thought he was going to drop out when he reached the bottom. They did finally find him about 6pm and he was safe with his parents.

Salt Stump is a wicked descent. A good descender can fly down this section. I take it more at a medium pace and make it to the bottom in about 17 minutes with a total ride time of about 1:27 with Mountain Top lurking ahead. I have yet to make Mountain Top without having to get off the bike. There are some steep sections that just don't let up. Made it to the top of Mountain Top in 30 minutes. Total ride time 1:57. And the top experts are finishing around that time. Unbelievable.

Down the other side, a little more climbing then a fun descent with lots of switchbacks to the swinging bridge. I was happy to see the bridge because I knew I had about 30 minutes left to the finish. The descent down Brushy took 13 minutes. That is fast for me. I even caught up with a Clydesdale race. Crossed over the bridge, and headed towards Stoney Run. Total time 2:33. I realized at that point I might finish under 3 hrs! I was pumped about that so I pushed a little harder and took a few more chances in those 5 creek crossing on Stoney. My legs were feeling the punishment of Mountain Top and I couldn't turn the cranks as hard as I desired. Finally, hooked back up Blue Suck and descended to the finish where there were no crowds cheering. Everyone had packed up and left except the workers.

Total unofficial ride time

3:05:53

I did get a cool T-shirt for helping and didn't have to pay a entry fee so I was pleased with my ride and day. It was kinda weird not starting with a large group fighting for position. I certainly didn't have the intensity that is normally there during the race. The lack of traffic, for better or worse, kept me within my limits. I would have just gone out and taken some pictures at cool spots but I wanted to get a good ride in. Ryan Middleton raced the Jr. xpert division and got 2nd place. He was pumped about that. His ride time was very close to 3 hrs.