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The race this year again was on tap to provide a good jump start to the week. This year I came out one extra day early and decided to go straight to Spearfish to set up camp for the week and get a little R&R before the race. After setting up camp late on Thursday the Spearfish City Campground, it was off to bed to rest up a little. Well that night didn’t provide much rest as a wicked thunderstorm rolled in and dumped piles of hail on the camp as well as providing a great light-show!!
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| Tinton Rd. Climb Views! |
On Friday I woke up to a soggy camp spot, but bright blue and sunny skies. I knew that it was going to be a good day. I decided that I needed to open up the legs a little so I headed out to climb up Tinton Rd. This road doesn’t look like much on paper but is about a 2000 ft. climb over the 10 miles up. Pretty good for South Dakota,huh!!! I felt good as I went up at a gentle pace and topped out to the beauty of Crow Peak. After enjoying the view and rolling some of the roads on top I never have went down, I flew back down to camp where I spent the rest of the day relaxing and visiting the downtown.
Race Day!!
Well since Thursday didn’t provide much rest, I was hoping that Friday night would prove different and it did as I was able to get a pretty good rest in. I woke up at 5:30 with the race start at 8:00 to start the pre-race check. After kitting up immediately out of shear need for warmth (50 degrees in the morning!!), I got the normal breakfast for the year and then it was load up time and off to Rapid City. The nice 45 minute drive allowed my body to wake up and arrived at the venue at around 7:00 which was perfect for the pre-race routine! After getting the final touches I took off up the hill and down to the church camp for the start. Pre-Race meeting normals, greeting of many people I now know out here and it was time to start. Ready, Set..........
Race ON!!
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| Bill and I during opening 10 miles |
This race is very similar to many of the races I do now these days as it starts straight up hill for about the first mile. This same opening, I took the lead up last year and set the pace for the group as I was geared pretty well for it last year. This year was a different story. I was not going to be setting the pace this year as Jim and the Team HoneyStinger overall winner (forgetting name right now) took off ahead of me. I knew it would kill my race to follow the pace so I settled in and just tapped out a rhythm to get me to the top. I was able to hold my own up the opening climb and entered the singletrack around 6th. Fine with me as I knew that i was sitting just fine with who was in front of me. The opening 10 miles of this course are absolute hell for a single-speed. Lots of punchy climbs filled with loose rock and many boulders to hop over. Being a single, I generally like to be riding with opening trail in front of me but I unfortunately was following 1 or 2 others through this section and it provided 2 different endo’s in the first 4 miles of singletrack due to slower moving gear riders in front and large boulders with no momentum to get over them. Oh well, thus is racing a single-speed. After settling myself down from these mishaps it was into the DH course (so much fun!!!) and to the split that took us out onto course. From here the course was pretty straight forward, climb lots, descend a little and climb some more!!!!
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| Rocking Team Noah!! |
In this middle section of the race, it was pretty much status quo for the majority of the next 20 or so miles. This section of the race is absolutely a blast. There are many long (10 minutes or so) climbs throughout with some downhills every once in a while. It really does feel like we are climbing this entire time though. I got to thinking at one point that there is no way we can go up any more and just to spite me the trail would turn a switchback and head up again. The beauty of this section of the race though is completely worth the effort that had to be put in. There are so many times, not only in this race out here, but also the Tatanka 100 and Dakota 50, that I will be riding along and nearly wrap myself around a tree because my head is swiveling around so much taking in the breath taking views. The riding out here completely reminds me of why I race a mountain bike.
Back to the race. During this section I was pretty much all by myself. I was able to see people every so often and could get a pretty good idea at the time gap that I was holding over them or that I was trailing them. At one point I did come up on Bill (local) who was on the side of the trail fixing his chain. This provided some motivation for me because I knew that I had just moved up a overall position so I put in some extra effort to try and hold on to this. It wouldn’t last though as we came to the multi-purpose trail climb, I was surprised when Bill who I thought I had some good time in on, came riding up next to me. I was able to hold his wheel up this very long two track climb and hit the singletrack knowing I was about 1 min. down on him. Throughout this entire time I was mentally trying to pull him back but also had somewhat resigned myself to my position as I was just putting in the motions to get me back to the finish.
After bombing down from the last aid station into the church camp, I knew that I had about a mile ascent and then it was down the DH course again into the finish area. To my surprise I actually was reeling Bill back in and got within 10 secs. of him before he got scared and took off like a bat out of hell. That was fine, I thought about putting in the effort to chase but I had no gas and legs that were rocks at this time. Oh well, finished the climb (which is singletrack off to the side of the opening road climb), hit the DH course and into the finish. I was able to pull off my 2nd Single-speed win in the 2nd year of the event with a time of 3:57 or so and a 8th Overall. The competition was great this year with some solid fast guys coming out to play. Hopefully this event only grows from here as this is a kick butt event just like the others out here. The support that these races get and give back to the racers is unparalleled in all the races I have done. My support is that I have been able to upgrade my GPS every time out here as I walked away with a Garmin 705 along with my other winnings!!! Not bad for such a small race that will hopefully get bigger and bigger, helps to have Quarq in Spearfish!!
On a side note I would like to give a shout out to Liam Porter (16 year’s old) from Spearfish,SD. Liam took 3rd Place in the Juniors Category for the 40 miler and this was only his second Mtb. race. Got to talk with his family about Team Noah Foundation and Liam’s struggles early in life with a heart condition. The future is always bright with young riders out there kicking butt and over coming these obstacles. Way to go Liam!!!
That is all from the bright & sunny Spearfish,SD. Check in next for the Pierre’s Hole 100 report and pictures galore!! Out.
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