The end of the Intermountain cup season

Wow lots happened since I was here last. I can remember some of it.

Working backwards, I hit my goal of a top 5 in the Intermountain Cup series with a 2nd place. I really thought I could get first place at one point in the season but first place Jonas is out of my league. 2nd is great as I bested the group that competed for 2nd-5th pretty much the whole season. It was a tough series thanx to Dave, Ryan, Keith, and a bunch of other awesome and friendly competitors.

Secondly the final race of the series was at Snowbasin which I called "my house" being the closest race to...well...my house...and being the place I spend a lot of time training at. Duh. Did I really just explain "my house"?

I won my first real race that day. I say "real" race because I had previously won some races at Grouse Creek but those were not sanctioned, official, known, etc. Those were races put together by a buddy and had a relatively small contingent of competitors.

It took me years to get to this level of competition and a little luck by the series leader Jonas to decide to not race that day. I believe my training plan (thanx Joe Friel and co.) and my nearly obsessive training data analysis were excellent tools to help me push and prepare for the event. I really enjoy structured training, and this year was spent mostly training alone rather than in group rides. Although more boring it does seem to help keep me focused on the training tasks. It seems nearly impossible to find a training partner that has the same timing, plan, pace, and desires, even though we all want to race and improve our skills.

The race. Well, a little before the race. Before my warmup I found out Jonas wasn't racing and that actually made me nervous. It was my race to win and that added some level of pressure. Before this point I was interested in doing my best but ready for 2nd place because Jonas had been unbeatable all season. Even though I wanted to give it my best shot in "my house" I knew it would be nearly impossible. But now, I have to win.

Lined up at the start I get a spot on the front line, as happened quite a bit this season. Turns out people either don't want the front or give way to the known suspects, which is super cool. People have let me up to the front because I've podiumed before. Very classy. I take a few shot blocks and a moment to focus, which was caught on camera thanx to Faceshots photography. Keith and I - which will end up 1st and 2nd today - apparently have the same idea at the same time.

Then we start. There is a serious hill to climb on a service road before we hit a small singletrack section followed by more service road. I wanted to be first on the singletrack but that hill has some free rent in my head. I've raced this hill during midweek series and can never seem to be first up this thing. A few moments in I notice Corbin taking off to my right. I keep my cool and keep accelerating, then finally start overtaking him, then notice no one else is up front. As often happens, people line up behind me and take over a few feet later. I tried to avoid that this time, and since we're at "my house" I know the best lines for the best traction up this hill.

And it turns out no one took over. Just before the singletrack I look back and see there are a few people within reach but Keith is maybe 5 bike lengths back. He doesn't look that good. I can maybe put some distance on him. I get through the tiny singletrack section, up the next service road section, and into the trees of the Green Pond trail. Love that trail. I decide to step it up and disappear. No one keeps up, and I start passing the stragglers from the group that started before us. This felt awesome. Really awesome. By the end of the climbing of the first lap I am fighting for position with the eventual winners of the group that started ahead of us. I overtook a whole age group. I didn't know that at the time; I just knew I caught some people and was keeping up with some.

I descend as strongly as I can while reminding myself to stay smart because smart is fast. Second lap comes along and I crank up that service road hill as hard as I can after getting a bottle from V - the most awesome person on the planet. I know I have this pattern of slowing down at the beginning of the second lap and that little pattern has been in front of my mind for the recent 2-3 races. I didn't want to let it happen again. My Garmin data shows that I hit zone 5 during this climb so I did pretty well. I may have been able to do better.

Then started a bunch of singletrack again. Stay smart. Then a bit after passing the service road after the Green Pond trail a UMB rider comes up to me, gets on my tail, and eventually passes me. I was furious. I had done it again, let my guard down, slowed down, and got caught. Damn it. I had to let him pass and noticed he wasn't in my group so I felt a little better, but still, if HE caught up others can. Unacceptable. After about a minute of composing myself I start reeling him in and pass him back just before the south edge of the race course where we start heading back. That spot is a serious little climb in rough rocky terrain with a uphill hairpin. I get passed him, then screw up the hairpin and he passes me. Ok, fine. He better go damn fast on the flats coming up or I'll take him back quickly. He didn't go fast. I left. I had some slight uphills, flats, technical descents, and 1/2 that service road before the finish. MY HOUSE.

The rest of the race was a blur. Stay smart is all I could tell myself. Legs were pretty damn good, course was awesome, and people were nice and friendly. I probably passed a dozen people on that last 1/2 of a lap and was as courteous as possible. Stay smart is all I need to do.

The last service road climb before the finish was actually a blast thanx to the spectators. I killed myself up that hill. NO WAY is someone out climbing me to the finish. I didn't look back nor did I care to. NO ONE is going to pass. And I collapsed after the finish line. First place. Hell yeah.