The forth of six GA State Championship (GSC) series mountain
bike races was held Sunday at Flatrock Park trails in Columbus GA. This race was a “bonus race” where 15 extra
points were awarded just for showing up…a way to hopefully get racers to come
to a less popular/out of the way venue.
The Flatrock trails have some “issues” in my opinion, and judging from
the low turn-out, other folks may feel the same. I don’t know who designed or built the
trails, but it was announced at the race that stewardship of the trails has
just been handed over to a chapter of the Southern Off Road Bicycle Association
(SORBA)—probably a good thing. My
problem with the trail is that it tends not to “flow”. That is that it takes illogical (and
sometimes dangerous) turns, has obstacles/drops/erosion that don’t add much to
skills requirement but do add unnecessary danger. I know it is difficult to build and maintain
a primo trail, having been involved with the Arrowhead park trails; designing a
challenging but safe trail is an art. So
my criticism isn’t meant to be too harsh….So back to the race. Only eight of us showed up for the 40+ expert
race, despite a beautiful day for racing.
I decided that if I could get the start holeshot, I would take it. I got the holeshot and led the crew for
several minutes until I took a “line” that wasn’t the best, and “Wild Bill”
Lanzilotta passed me. This was another
trait of this trail—many varieties of ways to cut course/avoid obstacles,
depending on your familiarity with the trail or interpretation of where the
trail actually goes (I kid you not!).
Anyway, it was fun to follow Bill—he has been a friend and very competitive
rival for years. I was able to pass him
up again a short while later, but he and two other guys (Mike Bonn and John
Hightower) continued to duke it out less than 30 seconds back for quite a while
we raced through a long stretch of very twisty trail through the forest. It was all I could do to keep the guys at bay,
negotiating my way through the stuff without catching a handlebar/pedal on a
tree/root. I succeeded though, and after
a lap I had built a little more time between me and them. It is a difficult course to get a drink on,
so on a short section where we travelled down a paved road, I decided to get a
drink. I failed to slow enough to
complete my task though, and as I was putting the bottle back in the bottle
cage, I looked up to see me headed straight into a hay bale put in place to
delineate the turn back into the woods—crash!
I was up and riding again in about 30 seconds, but that put the boys
back in visual (and striking) range. I
was feeling ok though and so I renewed my determination to go hard where I
could and focus on being smooth and precise through the twisty stuff. I got a time check of a two minute split
after two laps, so I knew that if I kept riding sensibly I should be able to
get the victory. With so few racers in
the younger expert classes as well, I didn’t pass too many other racers, but I still
used catching them as motivation to continue to ride well. One goal I always have is to improve my lap
times each lap, and I was able to do that on my third lap, taking the victory
by about 2 minutes 45 seconds over Mike Bonn in second with Wild Bill in third.
The forth of six GA State Championship (GSC) series mountain
bike races was held Sunday at Flatrock Park trails in Columbus GA. This race was a “bonus race” where 15 extra
points were awarded just for showing up…a way to hopefully get racers to come
to a less popular/out of the way venue.
The Flatrock trails have some “issues” in my opinion, and judging from
the low turn-out, other folks may feel the same. I don’t know who designed or built the
trails, but it was announced at the race that stewardship of the trails has
just been handed over to a chapter of the Southern Off Road Bicycle Association
(SORBA)—probably a good thing. My
problem with the trail is that it tends not to “flow”. That is that it takes illogical (and
sometimes dangerous) turns, has obstacles/drops/erosion that don’t add much to
skills requirement but do add unnecessary danger. I know it is difficult to build and maintain
a primo trail, having been involved with the Arrowhead park trails; designing a
challenging but safe trail is an art. So
my criticism isn’t meant to be too harsh….So back to the race. Only eight of us showed up for the 40+ expert
race, despite a beautiful day for racing.
I decided that if I could get the start holeshot, I would take it. I got the holeshot and led the crew for
several minutes until I took a “line” that wasn’t the best, and “Wild Bill”
Lanzilotta passed me. This was another
trait of this trail—many varieties of ways to cut course/avoid obstacles,
depending on your familiarity with the trail or interpretation of where the
trail actually goes (I kid you not!).
Anyway, it was fun to follow Bill—he has been a friend and very competitive
rival for years. I was able to pass him
up again a short while later, but he and two other guys (Mike Bonn and John
Hightower) continued to duke it out less than 30 seconds back for quite a while
we raced through a long stretch of very twisty trail through the forest. It was all I could do to keep the guys at bay,
negotiating my way through the stuff without catching a handlebar/pedal on a
tree/root. I succeeded though, and after
a lap I had built a little more time between me and them. It is a difficult course to get a drink on,
so on a short section where we travelled down a paved road, I decided to get a
drink. I failed to slow enough to
complete my task though, and as I was putting the bottle back in the bottle
cage, I looked up to see me headed straight into a hay bale put in place to
delineate the turn back into the woods—crash!
I was up and riding again in about 30 seconds, but that put the boys
back in visual (and striking) range. I
was feeling ok though and so I renewed my determination to go hard where I
could and focus on being smooth and precise through the twisty stuff. I got a time check of a two minute split
after two laps, so I knew that if I kept riding sensibly I should be able to
get the victory. With so few racers in
the younger expert classes as well, I didn’t pass too many other racers, but I still
used catching them as motivation to continue to ride well. One goal I always have is to improve my lap
times each lap, and I was able to do that on my third lap, taking the victory
by about 2 minutes 45 seconds over Mike Bonn in second with Wild Bill in third.
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