Pat's Peak: 1 Lap of Lameness + 2 Laps of Rockstar = A Win (followed by a dose of Kingdom Trails)

Sunday's race at Pat's Peak was inevitably going to be a mudfest based on the massive amounts of rain that poured over most of New England in the couple of days before the race.  In fact, the 6, 12, and 24 hour racers began their race on Saturday at the tail-end of that rain system.  Upon arrival, I ran into my friend Kevin (aka pants guy) from RI who had completed 6 laps in the 6 hour race the day before and was about to race the cat 2 XC race; he described the course using the term peanut-butter and described himself using the word stupid. I prefer to substitute stupid with "crazy-in-a-good-way" because that is essentially what most mountain bikers are.

Mike came up with me to the race - a rare treat for the both of us because he's usually working or driving to VT with his daughter on Sundays.  We reserved a campsite on Burke Mountain, and planned to ride the Darling Hill trails on Monday morning despite his slow-healing rib injury (don't wear socks on highly polished wooden stairs).  With him there, I was ridiculously spoiled.  My bottles were kept cool in the cooler in between laps, and he packed up the car while I changed after the race.

We'd gotten there early, so it gave us the chance to ride the ski lift up and down the mountain and get an idea of how much water was running down the course.  Even from that height, it was still pretty obvious that there were going to be some mud pits, but it didn't look that bad.  Last year's race came during a heat wave with a reasonably dry course, and there were still sections that seemed to hold water - that's something the venue will have to address eventually (I made sure to inform them of that when I responded to their race survey).  They've already done a lot of work in the past 5 years or so... there was a time when that course was insanely dull, and I absolutely hated it.  It's come a long way, and it's now my favorite race because it has everything: technical climbs, long power climbs, fast descents, steep technical descents, winding singletrack, challenging lines over rocks, and a rewarding section of slight twisty singletrack that comes at the top of the mountain before the longest and craziest downhill on a race course since Mt. Snow!

This is Kevin.  He likes to wear big chains around his neck.

As Mike and I were hanging out on the deck at the base lodge watching the cat 2 racers come through the start/finish area for their 2 lap race, I looked over to see a familiar face arriving - Kevin Ryan of team Bikeman.  As Kevin likes to say, "We go way back... old school CT crew..."  He lives in Maine, but he spent some time in CT doing some work with amphibians near the DAS stomping grounds.  You can find pictures and comments about him in my Colorado blog post; he's that Kevin.  Kevin's been saying for awhile that Hattie Freye (of the Maine stomping grounds) and I are the fastest girls he's ridden with, and he wanted to see us in a race against one another.  Neither of us had any idea that Hattie would be there that day, but we were both excited when we saw Hattie and her husband Andrew at the starting line.

The most unfortunate part of the weather leading up to the race was that it severely impeded race attendance.  There were only two of us at the start for the women's pro/cat 1 open and three in the women's cat 1 35+ race.  The earlier cat 3 and cat 2 races showed equally small numbers of women - maybe one or two more.  Hattie and I lined up separately from the cat 1 women, and while the registration website had said 5 laps, we were only doing 3.  The same situation happened last year - laps took longer than expected, so they cut us down to 3.  I have no problem with this, but I'm thinking that they should probably consider posting less laps on their website based on the fact that they consistently take a very long time despite the conditions.

Old-School Homies

At the start, I was able to clip in quickly and take the lead.  I'm not going to lie; that first lap was a pathetic attempt at expert riding.  I walked way more than I should have on both the ascents and descents.  Somehow, I found the strength to gain some ground with my climbing.  I was feeling pretty good.  Regardless of the gap I made on that first lap, I gave it all up on the main downhill of that lap.  I was off my bike in sections that I should have ridden effortlessly, and I eventually had Hattie back on my tail.  That girl can rip!  I let her by because I hate holding people up when I'm riding like a scaredy-cat.  As I came through the start/finish area, I told myself to get it together, and I mentally lectured myself about the fact that I essentially threw it all away on that downhill.  Mental reset? CHECK!  I quickly made my way back up to her, and finally made a pass after the first mile or so of the second lap.

My ability to remain on my bike increased, and I did everything on the second and third laps that I should have done on my first lap.  In fact, I completely killed it on the 3rd lap at every chance I got.  The climbs were starting to hurt, but I kept it in the big ring as much as possible and hammered the living crap out of every section I could.  I crossed the line beaming and was promptly told by my buddy Jon to take my happiness elsewhere (I've had races like that, so I forgive you, Jon).  I ended up with a 4 minute lead, and the fastest cat 1 woman finished 7 minutes behind.  I had the Garmin on while I was racing, but I failed to press the lap button while I was racing; other than my poor performance on the first lap, forgetting to hit the lap button is my only regret.  I'd like to see what my laps looked like comparatively.  Based on the fact that Mike was peeing in the woods when I started my final lap, I'd say that I was moving way faster on my second lap than my first, and knowing how I was riding like a complete psycho on the last lap, I'd say I was faster still.  It's good to know that I can push hard even after 2 hours of challenging riding.

Funny side note:  During my final lap, I came upon Kevin who promptly said, "I told you you'd catch me." We proceeded to converse with one another as though we were out on any old group ride until my psycho-lady climbing-style took me out of range.

With awards done, Mike and I set out towards Burke with the plan of finding a good dinner spot on the way.  He wanted to treat me to dinner for making Dean's List this semester - again.  We settled on The Flying Goose Brew Pub.  While the beer was absolutely excellent (we tried their oatmeal stout and a honey ale), their food was mediocre and pricey.  I'd recommend just hitting the pub for beer and apps and skipping the whole dinner thing despite the fact that they have an amazing view and a sweet old-school cruiser hanging from the ceiling and decked out with white lights and fake ivy.

On our way to Burke, we saw what every person traveling through VT hopes to see before they hit it at highway speed - a MOOSE!

I think we made it to the campground around nine.  We had a lean-to site because there was the possibility of rain, and lean-tos kick ass.  With the tent up, and no firewood, we showered and went right to bed.  I slept intermittently having had way too many chia seeds and caffeine throughout the day and my muscles still being all tensed up, and Mike slept not at all - bruised ribs are not meant for sleeping on a wooden platform.

Morning brought about a swift breakdown of camp followed by breakfast at the general store where we  eventually chatted with the only other people who had been camping.  They were there for their first time and up from Massachusetts.

Knowing that Mike hadn't been riding at all, and his ability to function on a bike would be questionable with that pesky rib injury, we decided to park at the top of Darling Hill so that he could go straight to town after the ride, and I would go back up for the car.  This worked out well.  We had an awesome 10-11 mile ride hitting some of my favorites - Harp, Troll Stroll, Webs, West Branch, Jaw, Maxilla, and Leatherwood.  After retrieving the car, I came back to find Mike chilling on a picnic table with a bottle of Switchback Ale.  We ate, Mike rested, I yoga-ed, and we hit the showers before heading off to Hardwick, VT for Mike's daughter's graduation ceremony to Jr. High.  Arriving early, we decided to check out downtown Hardwick.  I'm glad we did because I found myself a freakin' SUPERMAN BELT BUCKLE!  Yeah, I know... sweetest thrift store find EVER!  I told Mike he better not ever call me Howard Wolowitz.

P.S. I was watching Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory, and Howard does indeed have this very belt buckle.