6th Annual Finley Hills Challenge Race Report by Loren Hanson
I arrived at the course about 2 hours early, so there was plenty of time for a good warm-up. Joe Brown, my brother Mark, and myself went out to pre-ride the first couple miles of the course. After the run-up, I almost ran over a rattlesnake that was crossing the trail!! It was small, but it still startled me. It was now time to line up. I was pleased to see that the Pro/Expert groups were combined instead of staggered starts. A quick count of three and we were off!! Dale took the hole-shot and quickly opened up a small gap. I was in 2nd place at this point and then we hit the first climb. Riders started to surge hard, and I quickly went back to 4th or 5th. We hit the run up and I passed 2 riders. Dale was still leading with Garrett on his wheel. I bridged up and we were now in a pace line at the base of the descent. The false flat at the bottom of the course was VERY difficult with the head wind. Dale was passed by Garrett and I followed into 2nd place. Dale jumped on my wheel. Garrett was pulling very hard up the road. I could tell immediately that I was in for a hard day if I was to try and stay with him. We went though the feed zone and I took the lead. I lead into the new rock garden portion of the course. I'm not quite used to my new Diamondback bike, and unfortunately hit a rock with my right pedal ... VERY HARD! It stripped my foot out the pedal, but luckily nothing broke. On the next climb, Dale and Garrett jumped by me. My legs were looking for the small ring and those guys were riding in the middle or big rings!!!! OUCH. This was the point where I had to cool the pace down in order to make it through the race in one piece. Dale and Garrett slowly pulled away and eventually out of sight. I kept my pace solid while trying to drink as much as possible (my long sleeve skin suit was warm ... but not as bad as I expected). I thought about cutting the sleeves off, but that would have looked unprofessional. I was now on the 2nd lap and having a great time on the fast singletrack sections!!! Nothing like dry, fast singletrack in a race. Jason Jablonski was about 15 seconds behind me at this point. Chris Stone was right behind Jason! Good competition makes the racing a lot more fun ... and these guys were charging hard. My plan was to have enough gas in the tank to go full throttle in the final lap without fading. Last lap ... I was pleased with 3rd place considering the people in front of me. Congratulations to Garrett on another SOLID win. Congratulations to Dale for staying with Garrett for a long time and another GREAT ride. Thanks to the promoter(s) for putting on a classic race. This is the reason that we come back each year!
You can check out the results and overall times at the 6th Annual Finley Hills Challenge Results page.
Return to the Finley Hills Challenge Race Reports Page
|