Lehigh Mountain Top Classic 2011

I've ridden a mountain bike exactly once, and the trips pedaling myself down suburban roads to middle school don't count. But since a MTB was offered to me (two actually), and the race was literally up the hill from our home, I couldn't dismiss the opportunity to try a new form of bike racing.

It was fun, but I spent most of the race in a continual state of falling down.

The Lehigh XC course has been described as "technical", apparently that means full of rocks, roots, steep climbs, and descents. Not really having any idea what I was doing, I lined up for the LeMans start of the "C" race. I started about in the middle as we funneled into the trail, I quickly realized that I was a terrible descender and technical rider. Not a huge surprise. But then I found out that there is quite a bit of class and etiquette in MTB racing, on the climbs after the first descent I found people very willing to let me pass if I was coming up behind them. I quickly learned to return the favor when I started holding people up on the technical or downhill sections.

Unfortunately, shortly after a Millersville rider let me go by, we came through an intersection that wasn't marked, I took a quick guess and headed downhill. By the time I came out on a road and saw the Penske truck for the downhill riders, I realized that I had definitely taken the wrong turn. Unfortunately, others had followed, probably assuming that a Lehigh rider should know the course. Sure showed them. It took a few minutes to climb back up to the intersection, and get going in the right direction.

I passed a few more people, but as soon as we hit rocks (which happens frequently if not constantly), I'd fall down a bunch. I became extremely difficult for me to get back on the bike, because there wasn't room to make half a pedal stroke before bouncing off the next rock. Eventually I started running large sections.

Anyway, it was a good time, and I've got some real bruises and bumps to complement the injuries from the wreck last week. Tomorrow will be interesting as my left arm has some limited range of motion.