Border Battle 2011 race report

I made the drive out to River Falls, WI on Sunday for the Border Battle, the annual mountain bike race between lots of people from a few different states.  Personally I couldn't care less which state wins; I'm racing everyone in the Comp race, and regardless of their origin they are trying to beat me.

Still, lots of people show up so that's great. The course is fun and one that plays to my strengths, or at least doesn't take advantage of my weaknesses.  I raced it last year in the Sport class when LGR was dominating the class (no thanks to me). Most of us have moved up to relative mediocrity in the Comp class, but it's where I belong.  Sport is an odd mix of newbies and very fast sandbaggers.  I moved up because I was neither.

I warmed up on a climb that was thus far unfamiliar to me.  It was rocky and loose, sort of steep, but the other races had worn a defined path so it wasn't a big deal.  After riding around the singletrack a bit, I lined up late and sat at the very back of the rather large under 39 Comp group.  Not a good place to start considering we go immediately up a moderate climb.

I thought I was late to the line but sat there forever.  Finally they let the elites go, and we were next.  Sitting at the back, there was nowhere to go on the climb so I spun up it so slowly I don't even remember doing it.  Once we got to the top things started moving but there was much traffic in the singletrack, to the point of unclipping and waiting at the entrance.  The first lap was so frustrating.  One guy would dab on a climb and the domino effect would hold up 10-15 racers behind.  Someone even said, "Now it's a group ride" which was exactly right.

Photo by SkinnySki, obviously

Once the race came back to the base of the first climb I was so tired of yo-yoing in the pack I sprinted up the climb as hard as I could. It was almost comical, even for me, when the climb turned a corner and got steeper, pretty much shutting the door on my "attack."  I got by a lot of people, but in the ensuing aftermath I blew up and they all passed me back. The rest of the second lap was all kinds of bad for me.  I didn't crash but I was going so slow it wouldn't have mattered.

We got to the second, rocky climb, which seemed to wake up my legs and somehow I felt better.  The third lap I actually picked up the pace a bit and was more aggressive again.  Needless to say I took the last climbs at a steady pace.

In the end I managed my first top 50% overall in Comp, probably thanks to increased attendance and extra WI folks to race against.  I'll take it.

The Border Battle is likely my last MNMBS race for this season.  I will continue to hit the Hillside weeknight races, possibly a 50-mile race at Murphy, and the big one: Dakota 5-0.  After that it'll be a couple easy weeks, then the transition to CX season.