Not a good start. I kinda knew this was a race. I expected a fast start but this didn't go well at all. I was near the back of the field at the start, the field separated within the first few feet, and I got squeezed into the right side of the bridge just a few feet from the start making me dead last by the time we hit the paved bike path. I'd like to see a video of the start because from my viewpoint the fast guys took off like bullets. I assumed the field would be relatively calm until the dirt road after the bike path. Wrong.
So I don't really care for being dead last. I expected to take it somewhat easy on the bike path as part of a peloton of riders but that didn't happen because the big front pack was out of reach and the rest of the people in front of me weren't in a group. I therefore had to work so I got in a tuck and picked off 2 or 3 riders on the paved trail before the dirt.
Now the dirt road starts. As others predicted quite a few riders slowed pretty significantly so I was able to pass a few riders pretty quickly. Maybe 5-6 by the time we hit the single track.
In the last 2 miles of the single track I passed a few single speed riders whilst being passed by a few 45+ riders and 2 of my group. I felt I had a very good climb; I thought it took quite a bit less than one hour but Strava says 57 minutes. I spent the whole climb in zone 5 so I don't know what else I could have done.
I swear I started drooling as I climbed the last few feet before the trail pitches downhill. I was ready to destroy the competition and pick up at least the 2 guys that passed me. Unfortunately I immediately felt my front tire was nearly flat. Damn. Stop, fumble for the CO2 canister, fill it up, GO! Probably only lost 30 seconds, maybe 50. At least 2 guys pass; I donno if they are in my group.
It's time for some serious downhill fun. I LOVED the top section again; this was my third time riding this and felt pretty fast. I think I caught and passed three riders before I realized my tire was low again as I was catching up to the "cow guy". About that time the second climb started so I got on his wheel and did that climb a little slower than I wanted to, but I felt it would be bad form to be aggressive, pass the guy, then pull over to refill my tire. Once the top of the climb arrived I pulled over and refilled.
The rest of the downhill to the traverse was a ok but not as fast as I wanted it to go because I was nervous about my tire and started feeling it soften. I think I refilled it once more before the traverse climb, got up the climb with another rider from a different group, and started down the service road where I immediately felt the tire was really soft. I took a few high speed turns motocross-style and planned on refilling at the slower section atop the little bump coming up.
Before that little bump is a straight line that I took at about 35 mph so I could fly up the hill. Well, I ended up sliding up the road on the left side of my body (at 25 mph according to my race data) because my front tire gave up before I could refill it. That hurt. I yelled. I think I yelled for a minute or so. I was pretty pissed off and felt everyone needed to know, although there was no one in sight.
At the start of the singletrack a race course usher pointing us to the course happens to have CO2 so I fumble with his pump, use it to fill up my tire, and now I hear the air escaping every tire rotation. Shit. I better hurry to the finish.
I didn't make it. Every turn got scarier as the tire became softer; I hit the side of the hill a few times as the tire folded and threw me around; and finally the tire bead popped and I started running next to my bike. I start asking everyone that passes me if they can drop some CO2 just so I can finish. Probably ten guys pass me without being able to help, and finally a nice guy named Aaron helped me out. He was very friendly and not in a hurry at all. He helped me get going, introduced himself, and we got finished pretty much together.
By the time I get to the rock waterfall my tire is pretty soft again and I contemplate how intelligent it is to descend that rock garden in this state. Ah fuck it. I may as well go for it.
I get down it and realize one guy from my group that had cut me off on the inside of a hairpin is within striking distance so I try to get him back at the finish. I had nothing to prove cause I had that guy totally beat had I not had all the tire trouble. I take the sweeping right turn pretty soft because he's watching me, then he looks away and I stand on it. By the time I get to the last left turn I am just feet away from him but my front tire is about to put me in the finish walls. I finish with the same time as him but he still beats me by a bike length. Was kinda fun just to scare him.
One last thought: It was well worth the experience. The nervousness of the week coming up to the event was surprisingly intense, especially the morning of. Then on the drive home I realized I had just competed at the national level. Pretty fucking cool.