Rays Indoor XC TT

 

This weekend concluded the Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Cross Country Time Trial Series #1 which ran from 11/14 - 1/10. I had decided to try it out awhile back and decided to sign up for a time slot on the last day of the series and practice as much as I could beforehand.

Each time slot signup included a Tri Flow lube, a Red Bull and an entry for a GT Zaskar.

COURSE: START/FINISH: GT Deck. Race totals 3 XC loops and 7 GT lines (shortest lines throughout). START and FINISH triggered by breaking a laser beam, supervised by a Race Official.

* START: Break laser beam to start clock on GT deck
* Prologue: Line P (marked), return to deck
* 1st lap Fisher XC (approximately 1/3 a mile) loop, return to deck
* Line 1, return to deck (two options- one a little more technical, one a little longer)
* Line 2, return to deck
* 2nd lap XC loop, return to deck
* Line 3, return to deck
* Line 4, return to deck (stumps...this line is often problematic for riders)
* 3rd lap XC loop, return to deck
* Line 5, return to deck
* Line 6, return to deck (riding tree logs also trips many up)
* FINISH: Break laser beam to stop clock

The key would be to ride a clean ride because if you fall off any of the lines or put your foot down you incur a 15 second penalty for each.

Top time on the board for women was 9:24 at the start of the day. Also ready to go was LP and ET, a 15 yrd old sponsored female and my friend and I knew both ladies would give me some tough competition.

I lucked out with a clean run my first go and posted a time of 8:21:27 which was good enough to give me the overall win. ET has been dealt a rough hand being sick the last couple weeks and posted a 8:50ish (for 3rd) which included a 15 sec penalty on line 1. LP (got 2nd), who had been taken out by a bicycle before she even got to attempt the race that morning, improved her time by nearly a minute but had incurred two penalties after choosing to bomb line 4 and took a spill on 6 (she got up fast and still finished strong much to her credit).

First female awards me a Rays MTB jacket and a picture in Mountain Bike Magazine! Now I got to quit spending so much time on these lines and become better at the clearing the jumps like the other two girls I raced that morning who definitely have the edge there.

After the race, most racers (especially me) spent the day hacking up our lungs after sucking so much cool warehouse air. Then it was off to Senorita Bonitas to celebrate with some beer and Mexican!