The Eligin 80 MTB race is always a great way to end the year. This year proved to be no different as it offered 4.5 hours of cold, bone chilling MTB riding through the wilds of New Brunswick. The Atlantic Regions have been getting steady amounts of rainfall and the course proved to be a waltz through water logged ATV track with some single track thrown in.
The boys and I awoke at 5 am to make the trek to the mainland. Of course Tim Hortons was the predicted stop as we all needed a couple cups of coffee to get us into MTB racing mode. I had a secret weapon of making some waffles the night before and taking them to eat in the car. Soggy, cold waffles represent ghetto MTB racing to me, and I don't think I would have it any other way.
There was great turn out at the race as Belliveau decided to show up on a borrowed bike that he got the night before. Of course Lamb, TT, and the other NS guys showed up forming the CSD Mafia. Burgess the fire fighter surprisingly showed his face too. I haven't seen that guy in years!
So, the first part of the race went as expected. The front group was made up of about 6 guys, me, Jamie, TT, Belli, and a couple others. Chaos was thrown in when I followed TT's line through one of the ATV sink holes resulting in a slide out of my front wheel. I hit the deck and slid for about 5 feet with everyone riding over me and then hitting the deck themselves. Chaos I tell you!
Luckily no one was hurt, but unfortunately a couple spokes were pulled out of one of the CSD guys wheel, so he got the chance to go back to the car and warm up.
From there we bushwhacked through the forest. Looking for the trails and hoping we were headed in the right direction. At the half way point we all gathered in the town to grab a couple fresh bottles and some food. I pounded down a coke and we hit the road again at a chill pace.
TT upped the tempo when we hit a gnarly downhill section that was literally a rock face. When the dust settled I was left with a flat. "Ahhhhhhh no" and I got off my bike to watch the crew pass me as I changed the tire. A couple minutes later I boarded my bike, and realized I had double flatted, and was forced to change the front flat.
"Holy Crap, what a day" I thought to myself and I waited for a couple minutes asking passing riders if they had an extratube they wanted to give up. Finally I found another tube and realized I didn't have enough C02 to fill a second tire......so I waited for Bruce to come along and he gladly gave me the shot I needed. (I owe you a coffee man, oh and that $5)
I was back on my bike! Riding alone this time going into the pain cave to try to catch up to the lead group. It gave me the opportunity to take in the sweet NB rock climbs and see the crazy nice foliage of the NB wilderness in fall. Unfortunately the trail was littered with BB deep puddles which resulted in all of us getting super wet and cold.
I rode hard by myself and finally made it up to 4th place. Still out of sight of the lead group but kept plugging away. Going into the last 10km I noticed I had a little more cushion for the pushin' and looked back to realize I had ANOTHER FLAT! Three flats on the day. Man, I need to ride a MTB more. Well, I didn't have a tube so I decided to ride the rim. The last of the race was basically minimalizing the losses as there as a crazy 3 km climb that went up and up and up. It was one of those climbs that you only want to do once a year.
I was in a pretty tired state by this point and when riding along you tend to go a little crazy. I found myself yelling at the climb I hated it so much with my flat tire. It made it seem like the eternal struggle that doesn't go anywhere. Like moving rocks from one pile to another.
Finally, which seemed like 20 minutes I crested the top and pedalled my cramping legs to the last single track section. My anger now went into the single track as I was mighty tired of riding a MTB at this point.
TT felt the same way as he was bonking hard. Apparently he tired to fix his internal pain by eating handfuls of crab apples that were on the trail in the last 1km. I wish I had of came upon that sight...hah.
So we all rolled in. I managed to hold 4th place. Just out of the money, but with no hard feelings. Afterword we all got cleaned up and headed for the great spaghetti dinner put on by the town of Eligin. I helped myself to 2 helpings of ice cream.
Jamie proved to be Mr. Consistency and took the win. I don't think that guy has lost a Maritime race this year with the Surprise being Belli who rolled in 2nd complete with roadie shoes. The rotten crab apples did TT some good as he held on to 3rd and I just missed him by a minute.
It was a great day despite the 3 flats. Bruce had a great race and Mr Creamer showed his metal by being the only guy 2 years in a row, to do the race on a Single Speed. Metal.
Now I fall into the fall riding scheule. That is riding whenever I want. I havnt been on the bike in 4 days but the new roadie was finally built up yesterday so I'm hoping that will re-kindle the fires.
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