Bluegrass Mountain Cup #1

Summary

Even though my primary focus for the 2021 season is marathon-distance mountain bike races, I still find cross-country racing exciting and fun. Thus, I signed up for the Bluegrass Mountain Cup #1 in Campbellsville, KY with the full realization that my training is in no way optimized for the red-line efforts of XCO racing, but entirely prepared to go out and have fun racing my bike.

I showed up to the race just in time to get my warm-up in, so didn’t get a chance to pre-ride the course. That, in addition to my poor start, put me in the back through the first half of the starting lap, as I opted to not ride an unseen course at full race pace. I pushed hard, but not so hard that I would compromise my ability to see the lines on the more technical sections of the course. Starting from the back of the pack also gave me the opportunity to practice being present and not worrying about how far ahead the rest of the racers were.

Partway through the first lap, I passed the girl ahead of me and moved into third place. From there, I just kept working away at the race. My second and third laps felt way smoother and faster than the first lap (though the split times don’t necessarily show a huge difference) due to knowing the course and being able to flow through the corners and descents with more confidence. Though I would occasionally catch a glimpse of riders ahead of me on a switchback section of the trail, I didn’t see the rider ahead of me until I came around the corner to the finish straight and saw the second place rider crossing the line just seconds in front of me.

In the end, I placed third after my slow start and was just a bit less than two minutes behind the first place rider. The course was fun, fast and flowy with some loose corners and off-camber rooted sections creating a bit of technical challenge through the middle portion.

Gear

Having never ridden in the area before, I opted to take my 2021 S-Works Epic (full-suspension), knowing that the added rear suspension is a bit more forgiving than a hardtail on unexpected terrain. When the forecast started calling for rain on race day, I rolled with the Maxxis Ikon 29×2.35 tires, having found them an optimal choice in slippery or wet conditions.

Nutrition & Hydration

The past few weeks have been a chance for me to experiment with some new nutrition strategies, having struggled on some of my longer training rides this spring. With that in mind, I changed up my nutrition and hydration plan for this race just to see how it would work. I started off with “Mama’s Breakfast” at Cracker Barrel in Elizabethtown on my way to the race, then transitioned to ride fuel during warm-up and my race.

During my warm-up I drank one bottle of water and had an Untapped Coffee waffle. Then, during the race, I used my Osprey Duro 1.5 vest with hydration mix, and ate two fig bars, a Clif Espresso energy gel, and half a package of Clif Shot Bloks.

Post-race, I had my standard Kachava protein shake with milk and cold brew, followed by a pizza.

All in all, I thought the fueling plan worked well for this event, though I’m curious to see how it will play out in my longer races later this season.

Reflections

This race was a great place to challenge myself with some technical skills while racing. I was excited and proud to realize that I had effectively bunny-hopped the few logs throughout the course after being so paralyzed by my fear of hopping logs just a few months earlier. Similarly, I found confidence and satisfaction in knowing that I stayed focused on riding my race despite the poor start. I didn’t give up when it seemed as if I might never catch the lead riders, and just kept pushing all the way to the finish line.

Are there things I could improve on? Absolutely. Getting off the line quicker is one of those things. But did I get better today? Absolutely.

Oh, and if you get a chance, check out the rest of the Bluegrass Mountain Cup–there are two more races this season, and this event was INCREDIBLY well-run, even to the point of having a sick poster, number plates, and medals all with the bluegrass theme–oh, and pizza and coffee on-site! Highly recommend!

#ridefierce #justbecool #fullsend