Race report: GSC #7, Helen GA, 22 July 2012

The last race of the 2012 Georgia State Championship mountain bike race series took place Sunday on the trails at Unicoi State Park outside Helen Ga.  In my opinion these trails are some of the best in Georgia—technical enough to challenge handling skills, long/steep enough climbs to challenge fitness, and full of fast and swooping descents to make for a whole lot of fun!  It is a really pretty venue, nestled in the mountains, with a cool, clear creek running through it (great for post race soaking).  I altered my plan to drive up Saturday afternoon and pre-ride the course on account of thunderstorms.  Instead, I left home early Sunday morning to make the drive.  Leaving home at 4:45 am made for a stress free drive (no traffic), and I got to the trail with plenty of time to get ready and pre-ride a lap.  Though there were some muddy patches, the trail was in pretty good shape.  I was once again disappointed by the low turn-out in my age category—nine guys.  One guy that was in attendance was Brian Schworm, who had bested me in the four previous races we’ve met.

I slipped a pedal at the start and so wasn’t in the greatest position as we headed across the narrow bridge over the stream.  But, I quickly passed everybody but Brian on the first climb.  Brian was out of sight within five minutes despite my best efforts.  His riding reminds me of Bradley Wiggins (who just won the Tour de France)—very high cadence, stays seated almost all of the time…just motors up the climbs.  Of course you never know who will have a mechanical issue, or physically blow up, or (hopefully not) crash, so I kept the pressure on.  Plus, I didn’t want to be complacent and fall out of second place.  I was pleasantly surprised to pass many younger expert riders (who started either two or four minutes ahead), even on the first of three laps.  By lap three I felt very comfortable with the trail…most of the muddy spots were drying and I had found the best “lines” through the rough stuff.  My buddy Neil was monitoring a stream crossing that was mandatory to dismount and walk across, and as I went by he told me I was only two minutes behind Eric Murphy, the lead of the 30-39 expert group.  Eric has returned to mountain biking this year after a break where he excelled on the road race scene.  I’ve raced against him on the road a few times…he’s really good.  How good?  Well, he won the Ga State Criterium Championship for Cat 1 (the top amateur class) this year.  So, my goal was to catch Eric who started two minutes ahead.  I really turned it on, and passed a few more racers, but never got Eric.  But, my final time was .01 minutes faster than him, so I was pleased anyway.  It was a great race, and Brian Schworm finished 8 minutes ahead of me, also passing every racer except pro Ryan Woodall.  Even so, Brian had a faster time than Ryan by almost two minutes!  Wow—not bad for a 40+ year old racer!  I was over ten minutes ahead of Perry Thomas in third, so there was an almost 20 minute gap between 1^st and 3^rd places on a less than two hour race.  This was the first time in five years of racing in the GSC  series that I clinched the first place overall series title…hopefully I can keep improving for a few more years!