Missouri State Race and Mini Weekend Report

Gonna try to make this one a quicky. A week ago was Memorial Day weekend, and the reschedule of the Missouri State MTB Championship race sponsored by SwimBikeRun. The race got postponed due to a bunch of rain the day before and morning of and people didn't want the trails to get wrecked. So a week later I show up to Creve Coeure park in the early AM to sign up to race the Marathon class.

Upon pulling into the parking lot I spot none other than my friend Rogo who I constantly go head to head with. I immediately know the race will be either his or mine for the day. The week before he was down in Arkansas for the Mt View Epic which was a 100 miler. So he could either be primed or cooked. Creve Ceour trails are also the closest to his house so he also had home court advantage. Hmmmm?

Brian "Rogo" and I hiding at the far left and right.

So the race starts with about a 1/2-3/4 mile road out and back lollipop and then onto grass and into singletrack. I get the hole shot some how on my SS Bocomo. I kinda feel like the rest of the dudes kinda gave it to me, but who knows maybe I really wound 'em up good and earned it.

Hole shot!

Whatever, so I get into the woods and instantly think " I think I may be spun out?" After being on the trail for a few moments I'm sure as shit I'm spun out. Even though the week before on the pre ride I felt over geared. Icing on the cake, David Frey had totally cut Rogo off on the first switch back and was now riding my wheel. He talks alot like me during the races which I like,, but with trying to keep the pace up I was having trouble with the chit chat. He also kept complaining about there being too many uphills and how he wished it was just flowy. I like hills so I couldn't really get on board with him.  Sorry Dave.

First into the woods isn't always good, but it looks cool.

In the first lap the five of us that were in the lead group all washed out on the what looked like tacky dirt. The trail had these "secret" slick spots that would just take you out. Oh, except me. I didn't fall until later on in the race when nobody was looking, haha.

I give up the lead spot in order to recover and get into my pace. Rogo gets in front and puts just a little gap on us and then for the next two hours hold a 30 second gap on us. We were now the chase group Paul Quindry, Matt Twedt, and I. Dave Frey had floated off the back somewhere?

What frightens you Dave? What do you see?

 We worked together for a few laps when Paul then started to fade. It was then just Matt and I. I had just met Matt. He is way younger and just started racing, but is hella strong and handled his bike well. He was able to hang on to me til halfway through the 5th lap I think. I put a hurt on him and then rode the remainder of the race alone.

Rogo before he snapped our wrists.

Up until the last two laps I was able to see Rogo on the return side of this weird grassy out and back, which always made him about 45sec away. But then, he kinda just went poof, and as hard as I pushed I  just couldn't close back in on him enough to even verify if he was still in the race. I even had one of the road crossing volunteers tell me I was in first, which couldn't be right. It still kept me thinking.

I moto drifted this turn almost every lap. Not because I needed to, but because it was fun.

 Oh and did I mention how spun out I was. Hella! All the single track was crazy flowy and 95% of the race I was spun out or near spun out. Only exception was this demoralizing steep freshly cut thick grass climb, that was a hike a bike for almost half the racers it seemed. But with that being said, I still would have been better off with a 38/20 than my tried and true 38/22. The brief run up would have been a non ish compared to the visible time loss when I was watching Rogo creep away from me lap after lap after lap in all the fast flowy stuff.

So in the end of the three hours, Rogo finished his 7th lap with 40sec to spare and was allowed a bonus 8th lap! Lucky. Rogo had also put about 3min on me resulting in a time of 3:03 and 2nd place. There will be retribution, Rogo! Next time, NEXT TIME!

The awards ceremony was cool. Had a bunch of free beer and got $$$$ and a medal.

My sister Sue was also there. This was her first race and she did it on her new Trek Superfly SS.

She got a 2nd place medal in the beginner race. She was the first to admit though that it wasn't hard to get second when their was nobody else in the category. Still proud of ya Sue, and love you!

My sis and I

I can't forget my team mate Maria who was also at the race. She did Women's Marathon and got first. Nice work kiddo!

 
Later after the race my friend Samantha (who also races ss off road bikes) mentioned she was going to go get some nasty post race food before her drive back down to Rolla, MO. I asked if she minded the company, and then was invited along. I recommended Rib City which is a bbq place on the way back to both of our living holes. It was good catching up and shooting the shit. We ate and had our pics taken with pigs.

And then I went home and went to sleep. When I woke up at 8:30pm I took a shower, read Lord of the Rings and then passed back out by 12:30. No partying for me Saturday Night, why I had all day Sunday for that.


-Peat