"Napa Valley Dirt Classic
This was my first time racing
the Napa Valley Dirt Classic and I wasn’t sure what to expect, although I did
hear from people that it wasn’t too bad. I was told that there were three or
four rollers that were rocky and that you should carry speed going down to
carry yourself back up. I also herd there was a big climb out after you descend
a short sandy section. I went into this race thinking I could place well as
long as I held with the front pack and got on the draft during the flat fire
road sections.
Well we arrived with plenty of
time to check in and change; I did my warm up a little late though because
after a few laps around the track and doing some climbing everyone was starting
to line up. We had a huge start group and it was sort of bottle necked in
between some parked cars so I knew it was going to be a bit sketchy. The race
started and we sprinted up a road climb and into some double track that climbed
up to a steep rock ascent. Everyone I seen was walking this so I dismounted and
hurried up to the top and got back on my bike. The pack was still sprinting and
I could feel myself falling back, I just didn’t have the power to keep up, so I
was dropped off the lead pack. I was passed by a few more people and each one I
tried to stick behind but wasn’t able to keep up. I was still in the mix with
the slower cat 1 group when we reached the rollers which weren’t as bad as
described and actually kind of fun.
Once we got in the single track
I was more in my element because it was fast, flowy, and there was decent grip
under the fallen leaves. I was pushing my bike pretty hard drifting a few
corners and was able to get by a few who weren’t as good at the twisting single
track. I had one guy who thought he wanted to ride faster than me so I let him
by but in the next turn I watched him wash out and hit the ground pretty hard.
I asked if he was alright and he said yes as I rode by him so I continued on.
Once the single track section was over I ate a gel and drank some water because
it was too fast and tight in the single track to do so.
The race continued on a fire
road for a bit and there was a water station where I downed a cup of water on
my way through. After the water station there was some single track that led to
the sandy downhill which I cleared just fine but then I remember the climb was
a little bit after this. I downed a gel and some water and prepared for this
climb. The climb went on and on and was steep, I was spinning in my low gear
and keeping an alright pace but there was one section where people began
walking so I joined in. During the hike up I ate some energy chews before the
climb was rideable again, then the trail descended and there was more climbing.
We reached the top of the climb and went down some fast fire road/double track
and then there was more fire road climb.
As the fire road climb started
peaking I recognized some of the trail from my pre ride and sure enough the
airport we passed on the way out was up ahead. My Garmin didn’t read near the
advertised distance and climbing but it was indeed the trail we had rode out
on. I got to the steep rocky uphill that everyone walked up in the beginning
and didn’t have a problem riding down it. The course ended with some single
track that led into the running track where you had to do lap around to the
finish. My finish time was 1hr 45min and I finished 25th out of 27.
Which isn’t good but I did have fun riding the single track there. I really
felt bogged down during the race like my seat was too low, so after this race I
went and got re fit on my bike. This race will be on my race schedule next year
because it was a good race that isn’t too far away."
GREAT JOB KURTIS!!
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