Intermountain Cup Race #3: Showdown at 5-Mile Pass

I believe I had a good first mountain bike race, finishing 8th in Beginner Men 30-39. My raw finish time was 1:16:03 which, subtracting the 17 minute offset, puts my actual time at 59:03. Definitely faster than the 1:12 I rode last night! What hurts is the guy who finished in the 7th spot was only 5 seconds in front of me! I caught him right before the hike-a-bike and continued to catch him on the little climbs for the rest of the race only to watch him ride away on the downhills. Speaking of catching riders, I caught quite a few seeing as I was in (or close to) last position 100 yards after the start. After freezing on the start line for close to 20 minutes waiting for the other groups to go it took my legs a few minutes to get moving again. I'm not sure how all of the other riders in my category managed to start so fast but I'll try to be less conservative and just go for it at the next race. Another thing I'll change is to ditch the big Camelsback and go with a smaller pack and/or bottle. Oh yeah, one more thing: I probably won't finish my pre-ride at 8:30 PM the night before the race.

It was fun to talk to the other bloggers at the race. I met Art walking to registration, warmed up a bit with Utah Mountain Biker and talked with Fox, Stupidbike, Team Rico, Julie and Dr. X. I saw Adam a few times but didn't get a chance to say hello. All rode strong races in their respective categories as did Jesse, Kris and Jolene.

As far as the pro race was concerned, Bart took first followed closely by Fox with Team Rico riding to a strong 5th place. Art flatted on lap #3 and had to walk in.

Good times for sure and I'll definitely be back for another go. I have a ton to learn but the process of improvement should be fun.

One last thing: The event itself was fantastic. All aspects of the race were very well done: Registration, course marking, results, swag bag, support, etc., etc., etc. In fact, results were essentially "real time" as tags were pulled at the finish and posted on the board within minutes. Maybe I'm still a little bitter because of the DNF I received at Hell of the North (my fault for not sticking around to dispute the preliminary results). Regardless, the folks who put on the ICUP series are top notch. Thanks for a great first mountain bike race experience!

Official results have been posted and can be viewed here.