This year it was going to be a lot different. Last year as a Cat 3, we only did the lower loop. It was a great course, but I didn't get to see all of the trail.
I showed up the day before this years race with no real knowledge of the course. Most of what I remembered from last year had to do with the experience of it all. I didn't have much to compare it to, so I just didn't remember much about the course. I needed a pre-ride. Normally before a race, I'll go out and do a lap so that I'm familiar with everything. The Cat 1 course at Comfort is a lower loop and an upper loop with some "extra credit." To do a pre-ride, I couldn't just do one lap, i.e. 1/3 the distance of the race. I had to ride all 27 miles of the race course - not ideal for the day before a race. I like having relatively fresh legs, but there wasn't much to be done about it.
I went out and tried to start my pre-ride. The course markings were a bit confusing. Rather than being marked by distance or categories, they were marked A, B, and C. I figured out that the A course was for the Pro/Cat 1 race and the Cat 1 19-39 races, and off I went. I rode along and I found most of it to be pretty manageable - until I got to a short, technical, rocky descent called Jimmy's Joy. Most people probably don't know its name because they ride through without seeing the sign; I know that it's called Jimmy's Joy because I stood there staring at it for five minutes.
You see... last year, when I'd only been riding mountain bikes for about five and a half seconds, I went to the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest for the first time. It was an amazing week, but on the second day, I got to a short, technical, rocky descent called Remember Where You Are. To make a long story short, I ate it pretty bad, and in the process I slice my shin down to the bone. Seeing your own bone has a certain effect on you, and it's fair to say it took the better part of a year to get over that experience. I thought I was totally okay with riding down gnarly stuff, but as I stood there looking at Jimmy's Joy, the feeling in the pit of my stomach said something different.
I walked the bike back about 20 feet and rode as if I was going to do it about five times. On the fifth time, I finally just went for it. I took the sketchy (they're all sketchy) right line that requires you to thread between two trees at the bottom. If you watched the video that I linked to above, it's between the trees that he's filming through when his buddy first starts out. I made it down, nice and smooth - no worries at all (except that I was terrified of it).
I finished out the pre-ride right before nightfall, and went back to the campsite where my teammates were hanging out. We got changed and drove out to discover that everything in the town of Comfort, TX closes or stops serving food at 9pm. We had to go to a small supermarket and put together something to eat.
The next morning was uneventful. I decided to carry with me my bottle of energy drink rather than have it handed to me halfway through the race (I'd rather it later). We had a decently sized field of 18. It was a dusty start, but it was cool in that we hit another stretch of jeep road after the initial bottleneck into the singletrack. That's nice for someone like me, who doesn't always have a super fast start. I passed a few guys there. I also jumped on the wheel of my friend Eric, but unfortunately, that didn't last long. A guy in front of him hopped a ledge super slow, which cause him to take it slow, which caused me to fall off my bike and hold up at least three guys behind me.
We all recovered and got going again, but I didn't see Eric again until he was on the top step of the podium after the race. I overtook a few guys. I clipped one of the trees at Jimmy's Joy and almost ate it. I blew a corner trying to take a sip of water and almost permanently lost a place. And of course, there's the most documented drop in all of the TMBRA series:
Hospital Hill
By the time it was all said and done, I was pretty sure I'd made the top ten, but probably not top five. I was guessing I was about seventh. They posted the preliminary results, and I couldn't believe my eyes.
3rd Place!
My first time on the podium in Cat 1! I was beside myself. I really just couldn't believe it. I was all smiles; I hugged people. The payout was sweet - 57 bucks! It covered my registration and my share of the gas. It just couldn't get any better!
