Clifford Park Assault

Here is the long-awaited report of Sunday's Clifford Park Assault race in Biddeford, ME . . .

For reasons not exactly clear now, I decided to try a mountain bike race this past Sunday. I guess what confirmed the deal was my younger son unexpectedly said he would race in the First Timers' category, and since the race was in Maine, we could visit my son at Bowdoin post-race. So the stars lining up, I signed up. On race day, I made another fateful decision, and, still not having seen the course, upgraded from Novice to Sport class, which added one lap to the race. Thinking that I could get a longer, better workout, the additional lap offered the chance to "wear down" my perhaps less endurance oriented woods brethren. (ha ha)

Errors in judgement compounded, my son and I start a preliminary scouting lap, and after maybe a hundred yards of double track uphill, we launch into some of the rockiest, nastiest singletrack I have ever ridden. There are walls to scale, sheer rock faces to mount, downhills through rock gardens, twists and turns that are unbelievable. Perhaps even more amazing are that there are people who can actually ride this stuff! Meanwhile, I am already huffing and puffing and pushing the bike along. We get what I think is half way around (in reality maybe a third of the way!) and figure we'd best turn around so we don't miss the start.

The number of attendees at this event is over three times the pre-reg number. What? All these mountain men wait to see what the weather is before they go? Or they just don't decide until the morning of? Well there is no penalty for day-of registration so why bother signing up in advance? And all the Sport Class racers across all age groups start together! And, the bib numbers go on the FRONT of the bike itself, so you have little to no idea who you are actually racing against.

We start like lightning up the road, blast into the trail, and immediately bikes and riders are all over the forest. This only gets more confused as the first lap goes on, because we begin to catch the guys from the Expert class who have had mechanicals, many flats, or other problems. And the fast guys in the class behind us begin to catch and want to pass us! Chaos reigns supreme for about another half hour. Which is about how long - 45 minutes total - it takes me to complete lap one.

This is clearly a war of attrition. About 25% of the field decides to quit somewhere along the way, some with irreparable mechanicals, ala a few broken frames!, tons of flat tires, or just sheer exhaustion. Meanwhile, I am doing more hike-a-bike than riding, while getting passed by young and old alike. There are still some people riding up this stuff! My next two laps are similar to the first, each taking about 45 minutes to cover the 4.5 miles. Finally, I roll across the finish line, pretty much alone and ready to expire .

Today, the results, delayed due to computer problems they say, were posted. I finished 5th in the old guy Sport class. Pretty good, eh? Well there were only 5 finishers, so that adds a bit of perspective. Furthermore, I was a good 15 minutes behind number 4. What did I learn? Stay in the Novice category. Don't blow up on Lap 1. Maybe ride in the woods once in a while, particularly with an aggressive group. And don't take the thing too seriously.

My son Scott was first (and only) in the First Timers category. John Adamik won the old-guy Novices (again, and by a wide margin!), and his son Connor was second by a hair in the Novice Juniors. Katie Schutz was narrowly beaten and finished second in the Novice Senior Women. So with one notable exception, the ECV ruled Clifford Park!

Regards,

Terry