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Leavenworth Bike and Brew Fest, Indie Series #4
04 June 2005
Report by: Barry Campbell
Ben and I headed out Friday night for Leavenworth, wondering if we were ready for the first NORBA-style race
of the Indie Series. Unlike the rest of the races, which had practically no elevation change, this one was
comparatively vertical. 1800 feet of elevation gain in an 8.6 mile loop. It's no wonder we were a little
nervous.
We stayed the night in Leavenworth, after registering and getting some dinner. I changed tires, since it was
obviously not going to be muddy. This may have been a mistake. We both woke up before the alarm and were on
the way to the course by 7:15am. Plenty of time to figure out what was going on, and find out what we were in
for.
We asked where the course was at the registration booth, were pointed in the general direction with a "the start
line is about a mile up that road," and headed out. After (thankfully) much less than a mile, we found the start
line, and continued on up the road that was the first part of the course. It wasn't that steep, but it was rutted
hard-packed dirt, with sandy spots. A mile or so of road led to the singletrack, which we headed up for another
couple of miles before turning around to head back and drop off the extra layers before the start.
Once again, they started the 19-29 year old group ahead of us, but at least there were only 9 of them. One turned
around as we were kidding around with Nick and Tony and asked us not to crush his ego. They started off, then, after
a full two minutes, we were off. Some guy in a white t-shirt, another guy in a red jersey, Nick, Ben and I were off
up the road like a shot. I was thinking, "man, it's an awful long hill to be going this hard off the start." Ben
told me later he was trying to put some hurt on Nick, but I wish he'd told me. It didn't work anyway. The other two
vanished within a few hundred yards, and it was just the three of us, with Allen, on his rigid bike, in hot pursuit.
We caught the ego guy just before the singletrack, having made up the 2 minutes in a mile. I was hurting a bit, but
in the lead.
I could hear creaking behind me, and I thought it was Ben's bike, but when I looked back, all I saw was Nick and Allen.
Ben apparently slid out going into the singletrack and had to run for a short stretch, so he was having to chase. I
caught another of the 19-29s, then after a mile or so, had to let Nick go, and Allen shortly after. I couldn't chase
Nick down, maybe Allen could. I passed 4 more of the 19-29s, the last two just before the top of the 4.5 mile climb.
I had to let both of them pass me back on the downhill, though, as the higher pressure, lower traction tires were a
liability in the dusty corners. I managed not to kill myself on the way down, and held on for 3rd. Ben crashed
briefly, and had to repack his Camelback after things started falling out, so he lost at least one spot, and finished
in 6th.
Results:
Barry Campbell 3rd, Beginner Men 30-39
Ben Ulness 6th, Beginner Men 30-39
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