Cranky Monkey MTB Series Race#2 - Fountainhead

Race #2 of the three race Cranky Monkey MTB series was held at Fountainhead Park on August 9, 2009 in the Washington, DC area (USA Cycling D20) promoted by EX2 Adventures. Given my ho-hum performance at the first race of the series at Wakefield Park, I was hoping that the added technical features of Fountainhead along with the steep, punchy climbs may help to improve my performance as it relates to my finishing place amongst my worthy fellow competitors. Bottom line is that I was looking for a top ten finish.

The weather leading up to race day was relatively dry for 2009, and compared to last year the course was in pristine shape. The temperature was forecast to be hot and humid (mid-nineties) but what do you expect for the middle of August in No. VA? This race start is a one-mile loop around the park on the park road before diving into the rooty trails. The roots and undulations of the trails at Fountainhead always seem to surprise me. The trail seems more technical than those I usually ride (Rosaryville) so I always seem to take some time to adjust my riding style. Regardless, I felt good entering the trails after the road loop probably about mid-pack. One other thing I like about Fountainhead is that they name their climbs/descents, so you see signs with names like Holy Grail Hill, Lung Buster Hill and Shock-a-Billy Hill to name a few. Anyway, the first lap went really well for me with no crashes or falls and I had passed a number of folks in my race, so I had to make up for it on the second lap. I had my first crash of the day on a sweeping descent where I was paying more attention to the rider I felt behind me rather than the trail. My front wheel rolled over a branch or root mid-trail and slid out on me. I went down on my right side skidding into some leaves with some minor scrapes. My last crash of the day occurred just before the finish line. I had just descended Shock-a-Billy for the second time and had just a quarter mile to go. I knew from the previous year’s race that it was all uphill to the finish line. A guy had just passed me on the approach to Shock-a-Billy and I saw him not too far in front of me catching/passing another racer. The gap to these guys was shrinking fast and I was thinking that maybe I could catch one or both before the line. As I approached this little stream crossing (bridge), I was looking up the trail still gauging my chances when my front tire hit the bridge and slid out. I went down quickly and shot across the surface of the bridge on my back. I must have been spinning slowly because my left side left the bridge surface all at once and I dropped a foot or foot-and-a-half into the creek bed which was dry. Unfortunately, there was one big rock there in the creek bed that I took right in the small of my back. Ouch! I jumped up, thinking how that crash had cartoon implications, and remounted my bike only to discover my chain had dropped. Seeing that I had only about 50 yards to go I decided to run rather than futzing around with my chain. So I ran as fast as I could up the hill to the finish. I ended up ninth out of twenty-four Sport 45+ competitors. Needless to say, I was happy with my race and looking forward to race #3 at Quantico.