Cranky Monkey MTB Series Race#3 - Quantico

Race #3 of the three race Cranky Monkey MTB series was held on the trails at Quantico Marine Corps Base on August 23, 2009 in the Washington, DC area (USA Cycling D20) promoted by EX2 Adventures. Given my first top-ten performance as a sport class rider at Fountainhead, I was hoping to achieve another in this last race of the series. The Quantico trails offer a lot of steep, punchy climbs which I like.

Unfortunately, the Mother Nature decided to dump over 2” of rain in the area the day before the race so I was expecting the race to be postponed. I woke up early to find that the promoter said the trails were good and the race was on. The temperature was forecast to be mid-eighties and not too humid which is all you can hope for in the middle of August in No. VA. This year the race start was at the bottom of a fire road that we bombed down on last year’s course. This suited me fine because it was a white-knuckle descent last year and it seemed in worse shape this year. The trails were actually in perfect shape for the race. Unbelievably, there were no puddles or mud anywhere on the course so my concern about trail conditions was misdirected. Last year I seemed to be having a good race until I broke my rear derailleur cable and ended up DNF. The race started very well for me. I was not really concerned with where I was at the start so I cannot say what place I entered the trails after the fire road start. Right away I noticed that I was engaged in a battle with three other guys that I would pass on the climbs and they would return the favor on the descents. There were quite a few climbs so I think I had the advantage and was able to pull away by the end of the first lap. I had no crashes to speak of except for one close call. There was a descent down a creek bed that was muddy in the middle but dry on the sides. The notable feature was a big tree trunk laying in the middle of the creek bed the entire length (~80’). I was going pretty fast down this area when I recognized the danger. Gravity was pulling you toward the middle of the creek bed and the sides were steep enough to make it difficult to stay there, but you didn’t want to get near the tree trunk because of the negative ramifications of crashing on it. I was fighting this situation the whole way down when I realized I was going to not be able to miss the tree trunk. I ended up clenching my teeth and closing my eyes as the crash loomed. A quarter-second later I realized that I was still upright and not going to crash. I had somehow skipped over the tree trunk to the other side of the creek bed. I felt very fortunate and made a note to avoid this mistake on the second lap. The second lap was good except that I started cramping towards the end of the raced. I backed off a bit to recover and ended up getting passed by one of the guys I had been swapping places with on the first lap. I kept him in sight knowing that we had one last climb before the final descent to the finish. I caught him and passed him on the climb, he was very gracious about giving me space to get by, and gassed it down the hill and over the line. I ended up finishing eighth out of nineteen for the race and ninth in the series for Sport Men 45+.

I want to give a couple of shout outs here. First to all, to those who have given me encouragement during the races I thank you very much. It always provides a mental boost to hear someone call out your name and it is most appreciated. To Greg Massey and all the other Sport class racers who shared the trails so sportsmanlike, it was a pleasure to race with you this year. And finally, Mark Thompson, thank you for sharing your experience from the beginner race earlier in the morning. Your information was pertinent and really helpful. Good luck to all. See you next year!