6 Hours of Warrior Creek – Race Report
The official report is here. My recollection is below:
The 6 Hours of Warrior Creek rocked! Plain and simple. Bum and the guys from BMCC put on some great events (they took over the BURN 24 from me) and this was not exception. Namrita & I raced the duo co-ed category, but really we were after the duo overall class. Also as is the norm in these relay races I was after the fastest lap of the day while still being able to maintain a fast pace throughout.
The plan was for me to start, gain a lead and put some traffic between myself and anyone else in our category. Then Namrita would come out and either maintain the lead or extend it. We didn’t get in early enough to pre-ride the course on Friday, so I did what I could while warming up. I decided to focus on the starting parade loop and then figure the rest out as I went. The parade loop consisted of 1 mile of pavement and then 1/2 of dirt before hitting the single track. That meant just enough room to thin the group before hitting the trail.
I lined up in the second row and as we started I did a quick assessment of who really surged liked they wanted to lead this thing. After about 200 yards we hit a steep hill which lasted another 50 yards. I continued to follow wheels at this point. There was a little shuffling and coasted 10 feet or so. That put me in the back of the lead group of 10-12 that just formed over the hill. I took 3 good pedal strokes, tucked into an aero position and coasted right into 3rd position. I swung wide left and made a smooth arc into the right hand turn and into 2nd place. 50 yards into another right hander and then down hill. I made the turn and tucked again. I buzzed past the lead guy and kept going….without even a pedal stroke. The road twisted through a camp ground and then did a 180* and climbed back out. I had about 3 seconds as I began to climb again. I settled into a rhythm expecting someone to jump off the front (only to blow up 300 yards up the climb). No one did, they were content for the moment. I waited until about 100 yards from the last right turn before we descended into the dirt and stood into a sprint. I made the turn in the lead and never looked back.
Not pre-riding is not the best practice, but I got lucky this time. The trails are so predictable and smooth that I simply just “knew” what was coming next. I do not often find myself leading out a race, so I was going to enjoy this opportunity or blow up trying. I did look back occasionally to see the results of my accelerations and about half through the group had been cut to 6. Someone asked from behind who was on a team (and implied who was solo), I was the only team guy. I knew then that they would let me lead to the finish, since I was stopping after this lap and they were not.
I stayed focused on my form and on picking good lines. It was not technical in the rocks and roots sense, but every turn was bermed (a curving slope). If you stayed off the brakes and used the berm to control the turn and your speed you can really carry a lot of momentum through the turns. The climbs were never steady, but instead broken into little bits with dips to gain more momentum. The course required many bursts of power and very few sections where you needed to stay on the gas for long. Perfect for me to just get after it.
Mile 10 hurt….. a lot. Thankfully the miles were marked, so I knew I only had a couple of miles left and some of that was a descent. The guy behind me, Tim Finkel, mentioned a “nasty rock garden” coming up soon. Having just returned from the Ouachita Challenge in Arkansas, I had no fear of rocks. Namrita pre-rode it before the race and told me not to worry about it. I trusted her and gunned it into the final descent. At this point there were only 3 guys left behind me. I hit the rocks with speed and the hill dipped steeply downward. I flowed over the first set quite well if I do say so myself. Then trail dipped even steeper, though smoothly and then shot back up for a second before making sharp left hander. Then the “gnarly” part came. I could still hear the others behind me at this point, so I accelerated and hoped for the best. The line was not clear, but it was there and momentum was my friend. I cleared the rocks without pause and accelerated again once I was clear. I made a sharp switchback which lead me under rock garden above and could see that I had at least a 10 second gap. I accelerated again because I could hear the finish.
I surprised Namrita. Maybe it was because I was first out or because I was a good 8 minutes ahead of schedule. We had a long transition area to make the hand off and I set her rolling with a clear trail ahead. And then she crushed it, adding more minutes to the lead.
Then my head felt like it was going to explode, my lungs hurt and my legs ached…..but I was done for an hour. Namrita did her part in adding to the lead from there and I continued to turn myself inside out on each lap. It was great to be able to go full gas instead of holding back because I have 5 more hours to ride.
Namrita did the last lap and we finished with a healthy lead. We cleaned up our pit, let the dogs swim some and then headed to the awards ceremony up the road (no alcohol in the park). We hung with the Faster Mustache crew, had BBQ & beers then headed off for a relaxing evening of sitting next to a campfire. What a great weekend.