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Mass start, pic by Martin P          |
Hammer Nutrition Missoula MTB XC Race 2013 @ Montana (USA Pro XCT) #1
Saturday June 22nd, I finished 23rd place out of 23 in Cat 2 (that's Canada's Sport) results. It took me 1hr 40mins. It was three laps long for a total of 14 Kms. The total Elevation gain was 2,434 feet. I earned 590 place points. One word to describe the course would be ''wow'' nothing like that at home. This is my fourth season of racing and this was the most difficult XC race I have done thus far. I could take a little bit of Canmore and Hinton to compare some of it. I remember hearing the announcer saying this course will test your climbing ability, your fitness, and your technical riding skills, he also said if your not good in one area you won't do well, (me not great at technical) I am glad they let me finish the race (as I was under one minute before the time cut for lap #2) to post a time, It let me feel that proud moment of finishing the race. The winner was done in under an hour and I have to say the local Montana racers have the comfort level on this course and are used to breathing at this elevation, it was impressive to watch and there were some accomplished road racers in the field. It felt like the racers were faster than Canada's sport field. I had a really good second lap and pulled in more than six minutes compared to my first lap. I stayed in my clips for most of the race except for one really steep switch back with a log drop so I un clipped and bounced off the trail and wiped out sliding down the mountain on lap two, thank fully I was ok, just shook up. The race was held at Marshall Mountain and the temperature was 22 deg C. A huge thanks to USA Cycling and all the volunteers for putting on the race. There was a BBQ after the Men Elite race at 6:00pm with hot dogs, pork, ribs and beer and pop. Then a live band was on stage, it was a great way to celebrate the day. I got a chance to say hello to Geoff K and Derek Z the Canadian pro racers of Scott racing team, also really cool people.
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