6 Hours of Warrior Creek

2009 is rapidly becoming a highly amusing and enjoyable ride! Pun intended! The Bedford MTX Series was fun, but the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek race was awesome. I teamed up with Gina G and Paula S to form "Team Two With, One Without." That would be two with gears, one without OR two with husbands, one without. We also had #135 which we figured out was true too. We had one 35 year old on our team (ME).

Anyway this post could get incredibly long, so feel free to skip to the end for pictures and links to other blogs if that's what you're interested in; but stick around if you want and I'll try to be informative and entertaining. I was fortunate enough to have Friday off, so I traveled down to Wilkesboro along with Josh and Gina to pre-ride the course. After battling the 30-40mph winds on the drive down 81 and 77; we were ready to get out of the cars. We met up with Josh's teammate Trevor and headed out to Warrior Creek Campground.

During our preride, we discovered some of the best trails ever! I totally enjoyed them. I've never ridden somewhere with so many berms!!! Instead of switchbacks, they have these super fun bermed turns. You swoop from left to right to left as you descend the hills. Rollercoaster quality!!! You could literally feel yourself picking up speed in them! BMCC has done an exceptional job planning and building these trails. They are sweet and were in good shape despite some very muddy sections. It is an absolutely great place to ride. The scenery along the way was quite nice as well. You often had scenic vistas overlooking the lake as well as some creative use of left over garbage. It's funny the things you notice while riding. After much delight and several breaks, we were muddy and tired. The loop we took measured anywhere from 9.8-10.3 miles, so we were confused at how they arrived at a 11-mile course. We would discover the other mile Saturday upon registration.

The other mile came in on the first lap where all the racers went up the hill and through campground roads to try to separate the approximately 200 racers before hitting singletrack. From all accounts this road section was as enjoyable as the trails that followed. I will describe the trail as we prerode and how the laps were.

Paula led off for our team, followed by Gina. I figured I was the slowest of the three of us and if I didn't get a second lap it wouldn't be a big deal. They are faster, so strategically putting them in a position to get two laps in was better off for the team. Finally, my turn came. I felt really good when I first started off. Got down the slippery hill and across the bridge safely then got tossed off on the climb and crazy tree roots. Got back on and started up again. Soon after, I lost my balance on more tree roots (no momentum), my shorts got hung up on the front of the saddle and jerked me down to the left. Ugh! I was panicking for some reason - I guess I wanted to do so good and not let my teammates down. My heart was racing and I was all freaked out. I had to keep telling myself to calm down and ride my own pace.

Finally, after a bit of smooth singletrack and a climb up some doubletrack, I settled down some. As I said before the single track is just fun!!! The flats and descents I handled pretty well. A few of the berms freaked me out during the race. Some of the climbs I did very well on. Others I struggled terribly. I was happy that I could ride up and around some of the turns without falling over. Some of my troubles began around mile 4 when I approached one of the bridges, I felt my shock bang together rather hard - no rebound, just clank. Another time, bang! I was getting mad as I just had it fixed. As I approached the only stream crossing, it hit hard enough to sting my hands. I got off and flipped the bike over, adjusted it so it would have little if any rebound (turned it to the turtle). This turned out to be helpful in someways, but I was getting the hell beat out of me now.

Anyway, I passed the course marshals halfway through and felt a bit more energized. I passed this solo male and pulled away from him. Of course, he was probably on his 2nd or 3rd lap by now. I got passed by a few people, but did catch back up to a couple. Never could pass them or stay with them long. I was getting killed on the climbs. I ended up walking up this one section of switchbacks and really didn't feel bad about it as there were some dudes walking them too. I rode the first rock garden, but the second I panicked about my fork and ended up walking it. I was proud of myself for crossing the skinny.

As I neared the end of my lap I was hoping like crazy that Gina would get a 2nd lap. I nearly wrecked in the mud on the way back to the start/finish line. I did feel very accomplished once I got to our pit area. I also felt like I was going to puke. I was happy to be done with my lap and I have no idea how long it took as on one of the rough hits, my GPS cut itself off. =(

After I recovered a bit, I tinkered with my bike some; but realizing I wouldn't have time for a second lap, I went to change clothes. I returned a short while later and was hoping like crazy that Paula would get back in time for Gina to get a second lap. Sure enough she did. She probably thought I was crazy standing there yelling for her; but we had no idea if we were racing anyone else. Gina was flying when she went out for her second lap. Of course we cheered upon her return as well.

I loved this format of racing, and I can't wait to ride some more. I need to work on my cardio more. I can tell my strength has improved. I credit my bike "saving" skills to the Bedford MTX/mud Series. I am so glad that I did this race! A few years ago you wouldn't have found me doing such craziness. As bad as I think I did, I keep reminding myself that I went out and road a good lap and a few years ago I would have never been that quick or willing to ride unfamiliar terrain without a lot of hesitation. I so want to do this race again next year and hope to do it as a Duo-female team! I haven't seen official results yet, so I'm not sure how I stacked up against my teammates; and I'm curious to see how we did overall and compared to Duo-female teams. =)

I must confess that I did get frustrated with myself during the lap and my language went from bad to terrible towards the end of the lap. Hee hee. I'm guess that once I work up my carido some that I will be able to stay more positive during the races.

PICTURES...

6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 1
6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 2
6 Hours of Warrior Creek album 3

OTHER BLOGS about the race

Chip

Warren

Paula

Laura

Josh