Finally.... NUFF said,

Finally got a Mt. Bike race result! I finished 5th in the Monday night make up race at 4 Eagle Ranch. 5th place = 70 points for me and my team! We placed 1st and 5th in this race, that should help the standings a bit! (Mt. Pedaler of Vail) This is a working ranch, so the course was mostly singletrack cow path. There was one shortish but kinda steep climb immediately at the start, then a bunch of false flat single track, to a wide open grassy flat/slightly downhill, back to a technical and rocky singletrack short descent, followed by about a mile of false flat double track to the finish. We had 3 laps in the sport class which equaled about 12 miles. I got a great jump at the start, and was sitting about 3rd heading up the climb. I chose the right side of the road, and everyone else took the left. Something happened to the others, cause about half way up the hill I was all alone in first place. My legs were absolutely screaming and going numb... (once again no warm-up... not sure what my deal is). As we crested the top 2 guys came around me, one of which was my teammate Eric. There was a short false flat after the top of the hill, and they pulled away from me here just a bit, while I tried to collect myself from the major climbing effort. This is where one of the stream crossings was, the one that you can see if you look at the following pics.
http://www.mcclarrinonphotography.com/gallery/8748655_KuV2D#578842386_4RsPB
http://www.mcclarrinonphotography.com/gallery/8748655_KuV2D#578845835_ugPqd
http://www.mcclarrinonphotography.com/gallery/8748655_KuV2D#578832868_NgGbK

2 other guys came around me shortly after that putting me in a solid 5th place. On the flattish/downhill grassy pasture area I was really able to open it up to about 30 mph each lap, and on the following downhill, I also made up ground, only to lose it again on the next false flat. After the hill on the 2nd lap another kid came around me (also riding a green bike), and he pulled away a bit on the false flat single track, only to lose his place as I went screaming back by him on the grassy area. He caught up to me on the false flat before the finish, and we rode like this, going back and forth for an entire lap. After the climb on the 3rd lap he pulled away from me a bit, but I figured if I could keep him within about 1/4 mile I stood a decent chance of catching him on the grassy pasture area and following technical downhill. Sure enough I caught up to him, and was waiting on him on the downhill, when he hit a rock wrong going through a small ditch, and went over the bars. At this point I ran over him, and also hit the deck, but luckily I was ready for it and caught myself and took off again wasting little time. It was then that I began to see the guy in front of me, and he was almost within range, and I could tell he was fading. I was really pushing it in a big gear doing about 14 to 15 mph on the false flat double track. I was able to pull within about 15 seconds of him, but ran out of real estate to catch him. Ended up in 5th place! Very excited about that! This is my first good result since moving out here! Several factors probably factored into this result. First I am close to being in the best shape of my life. I currently weigh about 178 lbs. I have been really working on my climbing and am able to do short steep climbs relatively well. It's when the climbs are like 3 miles long that I really struggle to maintain power. Still focusing on this weakness. This race was kinda like a time trial to me, really a good power course, and I believe with another lap I would have had a chance to move into the top 3. It was a really good course for the big powerful guys!

The previous race was the Berry Creek Bash, and it had a long steep climb on it, and as we kept going up, I kept going backwards. I was among the fastest descenders, but if I am not able to get to the top with the front guys, it doesn't really matter how fast I am able to descend.... I also had a slight mechanical with my chain falling off that cost me about 2 minutes, but even with that I wouldn't have cracked the top 10. 5 points for finishing was all I got with my 22nd place finish.