FORT EBEY MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE

Headed south to beautiful Fort Ebey State Park for the SingleTrack Cycles West Side Mountain Bike Series race number 4. Part of the BuDu Race Series. First race since what, last August or so, and first single-speed race ever. (Hope it won't be my last.) Extremely, extremely hard.

There was one heat for all single-speeders regardless of class or age. Thus, I finished a sparkling 9th out of 12. Doesn’t sound great but my time (1:28) would’ve put me 5th (out of 22 or so) in the 40+ sport (geared bikes) category. So I’m not sure what to make of that. (Jump into the sport 40+ race on my single speed?) Looking down the line of SS bikes at the start, I saw some Niners, Gary Fishers, and a couple Felts; nobody was rockin’ the low-end steel bike with rigid fork like me. (Is it obvious that I'm attempting to make myself feel better for finishing 9th out of 12?)

'nother thing: the flyer implied the race would be about 50 minutes but the course was two laps of 7 miles, with 1,000 foot climbing in each, so it took me almost 90 minutes. (Single speed winner was like 1:11.) Kinda like showing expecting to run a 10K but finding out you’re running a half-marathon instead. (Not really, but again, I'm trying to make myself feel better.)

All that said, it was great to race again! And Fort Ebey has some amazing trails--twisting, winding and narrow with lots of steep climbs and descents. But they're pretty darn dry, sandy almost in spots. Must be the rain shadow effect. And race organization was tops too!