2012 Stan Crane Memorial XC Race

This year's race took us on a tour of the Corner Canyon area. Last year's course travelled north on a dirt road, through desert, and on foothills whereas this year went straight up and down the center of the lush foresty area. Much better.

This is one of very few mountain bike races I've participated in that doesn't start with a massive climb to sort out the order of the group. That kind of climbing starts soon enough but until then we are treated to some quick little singletrack that goes back and forth behind the parking lot area. This is identical to last year. Once the climbing starts it goes for about 1/2 the race course which includes the Gasline and Canyon Hollow trails. At the top of the race course is a dirt road to transfer to the trailhead where Rush starts. And Rush takes you down to the silica pit area to get you back to the singletrack surrounding the parking lot to prepare for the next lap.

I felt good during the race. I felt like I was climbing pretty well for an old fart and I felt like I had decent endurance during my last lap. This race was 33 miles and lasted just over 3 hours for me so it was excellent endurance training. I earned a 13th place out of 20 finishers; not quite mid-pack like I wanted but close enough to consider this a successful race.