The Arctic MTB (Local Mountain bike race club) who run the summer race series also put on an end of series race. This was formally known as the State Champs but this year they changed things up a little and put on an event called the Trifecta.
The Trifecta consisted of three races, a hill climb in town on the Hillside trails on Thursday evening, a XC race on Saturday morning in Girdwood (local DH Ski resort) and a dirt crit on Saturday afternoon in Girdwood again.
The hill climb was a similar course to previous years with an added flat sprint to the timing area in the trail head at the top of the climb. This caught a few people out who were expecting the finish line in a different place.
Once again I was playing with the big boys and girls and racing in Expert class, luckily someone has to finish last and for the first round I can say it was not me :)
Results Trifecta Race #1
Normally I would put up a GPS track of the event however this time my GPS had a little I don't want to work situation so I will just put up the comments from a friend who raced and did much better than me. This is pretty much how I felt
This was my race tracking, as can be seen in my activity title I came in last place, I guess someone has to :D. My speed really suffered throughout the race, I think the problem was I didn't fuel well throughout the event. On the plus side I didn't get lapped, though it was close. I did get passed by some of the riders in the category below me though which is never good for moral.
Results Trifecta Race #2
After the first race I got some food at the excellent bake shop then relaxed with some fellow racers, then got more food. We were offered the opportunity to use the chair lifts at a discount but I really didn't feel up to riding DH and then racing in the evening.
At 6pm the racing kicked off again, this time it was a dirt crit. This event was a short course event where we rode for 40min plus 1 lap.
The lap was up a DH trail, along a ski trail then descend via another DH trail back through the start and repeat.
The lap was 0.8miles long with 303ft of climbing, and we thought we had climbed a lot in the XC race in the morning!
If you look at the Strava file we basically climbed for 2/3 of the lap time then tried to recover on the descent. It was a fun ride but definitely type two fun. I managed 7 laps, the winner of the race lapped me twice as did one other rider I think and managed 9 laps I guess a few other riders also managed 9 laps as I was passed by a couple of riders, on the plus side I didn't finish last.
Results Trifecta Race #3
I am very glad I was able to race and although I finished last (Results last of people who completed all three events) in Expert category overall I would still race expert again. I had a lot of time riding on my own but when I was near people it was fun racing them/trying to keep up.
I am looking forward to seeing if I can improve my performances during the winter season and on into next season. But for now my MTB racing is over for this year, time to service my bike and focus on Cyclo cross which is rapidly approaching.
Thanks again to Amanda and Fiona for all the support throughout this year, I really couldn't have ridden/raced as much as I have managed without Amanda's tremendous support with looking after Fiona.
The Trifecta consisted of three races, a hill climb in town on the Hillside trails on Thursday evening, a XC race on Saturday morning in Girdwood (local DH Ski resort) and a dirt crit on Saturday afternoon in Girdwood again.
The hill climb was a similar course to previous years with an added flat sprint to the timing area in the trail head at the top of the climb. This caught a few people out who were expecting the finish line in a different place.
Once again I was playing with the big boys and girls and racing in Expert class, luckily someone has to finish last and for the first round I can say it was not me :)
Results Trifecta Race #1
Normally I would put up a GPS track of the event however this time my GPS had a little I don't want to work situation so I will just put up the comments from a friend who raced and did much better than me. This is pretty much how I felt
"It's been a while since I've done a short race hard enough to taste blood and feel like my lungs were bleeding!! Kinda awesome to be to that point again!!" - Andy Duenow
Saturday rolled around quickly and I didn't feel that great for the first ride in the morning. The course they picked had a mixture of single track, paved trails, ski trails both wood chip and gravel and then a really primitive section of single track which was rooty and not so much fun to ride on. Although the course was a great lap at times it did feel like all we did was climb.
The lap was 4.6 miles long with 917ft of elevation change.
The lap was 4.6 miles long with 917ft of elevation change.
This was my race tracking, as can be seen in my activity title I came in last place, I guess someone has to :D. My speed really suffered throughout the race, I think the problem was I didn't fuel well throughout the event. On the plus side I didn't get lapped, though it was close. I did get passed by some of the riders in the category below me though which is never good for moral.
Results Trifecta Race #2
After the first race I got some food at the excellent bake shop then relaxed with some fellow racers, then got more food. We were offered the opportunity to use the chair lifts at a discount but I really didn't feel up to riding DH and then racing in the evening.
At 6pm the racing kicked off again, this time it was a dirt crit. This event was a short course event where we rode for 40min plus 1 lap.
The lap was up a DH trail, along a ski trail then descend via another DH trail back through the start and repeat.
The lap was 0.8miles long with 303ft of climbing, and we thought we had climbed a lot in the XC race in the morning!
 |
| Dirt Crit, waiting to start - Photo Credit Amber Stull |
If you look at the Strava file we basically climbed for 2/3 of the lap time then tried to recover on the descent. It was a fun ride but definitely type two fun. I managed 7 laps, the winner of the race lapped me twice as did one other rider I think and managed 9 laps I guess a few other riders also managed 9 laps as I was passed by a couple of riders, on the plus side I didn't finish last.
Results Trifecta Race #3
I am very glad I was able to race and although I finished last (Results last of people who completed all three events) in Expert category overall I would still race expert again. I had a lot of time riding on my own but when I was near people it was fun racing them/trying to keep up.
I am looking forward to seeing if I can improve my performances during the winter season and on into next season. But for now my MTB racing is over for this year, time to service my bike and focus on Cyclo cross which is rapidly approaching.
Thanks again to Amanda and Fiona for all the support throughout this year, I really couldn't have ridden/raced as much as I have managed without Amanda's tremendous support with looking after Fiona.
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