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Methow Valley, Indie Series #6
11 June 2006
Report by: Charlie Bartlett
did i mention that i love mtn biking! here's the race report..
the race was sweet! they had a lower loop and an upper loop, we were to do one lap of the lower, then
climb for 30 minutes (nice) to get tot he upper loop which was steep, sloppy, and technical. i was able
to pre-ride the lower loop as a warm up, which was good, it was fun, mostly singletrack, some technical
moments, but overall, pretty fast and fun. just as we finished the lower loop in the race, the rain
started. of course for the warm-up lap i'd worn knee warmers, a LS jersey, gore-tex sock covers, etc.
well, i shed all that after the warm up and went off of the start under partly cloudy skies in shorts
and SS jersey, it was looking good! my how the weather can change in the mountains!! the rain started
quietly, then the thunder started and it poured on me as i was climbing up to the upper loop on a sandy
road. wet sand is not an ideal surface for climbing!!
just when you think the climb is over, you dive into the woods to continue climbing on singletrack...it
gets steeper and sloppier, nice. at this point, i'm not sure who's in front of me, i'm in 3rd (at best)
and 7th (at worst). but there's other groups who went out before us on the track, so i wasn't always sure
if i was passing someone in my group or not. which got more difficult as i couldn't see thru my fogged
up, muddy glasses. as i finally reached the top and started heading down, i decided to put my glasses
slightly lower on my nose to look over them but hope that they'd keep some of the crap flying up off the
tires outta my eyes, it sorta worked. the top was sloppy and had some steep sections. i locked up the
back wheel repeatedly, tried to see how far over the back tire i could get and hoped for the best, i only
fell over a few times, i guess i wasn't trying hard enough!! i've never been the fastest guy down the
mtn, i have an aversion to crashing at high speed, but i found some sections where it wasn't so frickin'
steep and tried to make up for lost time and see who i could catch. i caught one guy, but he wasn't in
my group, so it didn't matter, but the incentive was there as i saw him thru the trees. turned out he
was a jr expert who'd broken his glasses and couldn't see, that made me feel good, the guy i caught
wasn't in my race and was riding blind, i must be riding really well...
but i was determined to see if i could catch anyone else and stay ahead of the guys i'd passed on the
climb. when i came across the line they thought i was 6th, later they said 5th, so i'll wait for the
official results, they weren't that organized at this one! but it was a great course, the rain stopped
just as i was changing clothes at the car, by the way. it looks like i finished ahead of the guy who's
in 2nd overall for the series, but behind the #1 and #3 overall guys. 2 more races, i'm thinking i'll
finish in the top 7 for the series, we'll see how the last 2 races go!
winthrop is a great place to ride, it's worth the drive!
oh yeah, one of my favorite moments in the race came just after the start, we started on an incline on
the road, came thru the start/ finish area, back across the road and into the woods, all the time slightly
climbing. the group began to stretch out a little with a lead group of 5 riders and a chase group of 6
with the rest somewhere behind (i was in the chase group). i was planning on keeping a visual of the lead
group, but not going crazy too early. i was sitting in about 5th of the chase group when the guy in front
of me decided to make a move to join the leaders. we were on single track and he shot into the shrubs on
the right trying to get up to the front, it seems that large, fallen trees are well disguised in small
shrubs and to my delight, he found one! WHACK! his back wheel shot up and went flying over the top, he
came up smiling as we rolle by, i wish i'd had a helmet cam!!
Results:
Sport:
Charlie Bartlett 5th 30-39
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