2019 Season Recap: Steamboat Stinger
Two laps of a 25-mile loop, this race course had everything MTB racing can offer; tight and twisting
single track, lung busting climbs, gravel roads, boggy creek crossings, modern flow
trail, as well as treacherous rock gardens that fully exhaust the 120 millimeters of travel on
a lightweight cross country race bike.
I started fast. The course
wound around the start village to a short steep climb that made a sharp turn at
the top directly into single track. My goal was to be first to that turn and to
carry what I could for the remainder of the race. I succeeded in entering that
turn in first position.
The course then climbed for
five miles in single track to the top of a ski mountain. I was in second
position cresting that summit. From the summit, two miles of tight single track
dropped the course down the backside of the mountain.
Once on the valley floor,
the course followed a gravel road for several miles tracking slightly uphill before reentering the single track. From there the course wound through a myriad
of terrain types for roughly ten miles climbing to the summit of the mountain
once again.
At the summit the course
descended sharply for five miles. The descent had little to comment on besides
being highly technical.
Through the start/finish at
the base village I was with one other rider, together sitting in third and
fourth place. We were ten minutes back from the first-place rider and five
minutes back from
the second-place rider.
My legs started to improve climbing
the five miles back to the summit at the beginning of lap two. I grew stronger
as I climbed. I dropped the rider I was with before reaching the summit,
securing my third place spot.
The descent down the
backside was much smoother the second time around. My speed increased on the
gravel road on valley floor too. I smiled. I knew I was gaining time.
On the long single-track
climb back to the summit I kicked into high gear and the 5-mile descent to the finish
gave me no troubles. I sped through the base village to the finish line, finishing
in third place, one minute and thirty-five seconds down from second place.