Head North and Real Sudden Like Turn Left

That's basically what the GPS told our boys to do last weekend.  Mc24 and Dub9 made the trip with the wives on Saturday the day before the race and hoteled it close to the race location.  Pongrat1 made the trip on Saturday as well with Chicken Bone but stayed a little farther away to visit some family and catch some frogs.  Big M is 3-4 hours from the Motor Base so convoying up the day of was out of the question.

Big M is a different type of course than our riders are used to.  More elevation gains per loop than a normal XC but it did not call for technical ability as you were either going up a hill, down a hill or in a straight line thru the trees.

The Motor Mice were up and at it early to set up the camp for the day.  A-Train idled in a few minutes behind Dubs and Diesel and shortly after the camp was set up.  As the Motor boys frolicked in the woods before the race Mrs Diesel lounged in her chase and Mrs Dub9 kept warm, snug and sleepy in the comfort of her passenger Jeep seat.

The race came and Dub9 and A-Train rode in the pack off the start but that only lasted until the climbing started.  Dubs made some moves to stay with the leader while A-Train was forced into more of a cruise control pace due to the amount of climbing he would have to endure.  Like Dubs, Diesel shot off the front of his class with his leaders and hung on as long as his heart rate monitor would let him.

Dubs had a solid race fighting Roger Anthony the entire 24 miles until near the end when he overcooked a turn.  What was supposed to be a sprint finish turned into a soft pedal finish about 15 seconds behind RA for second place.

A-Train kept his pace the first two laps riding with Jim G who was setting what appeared to be a good pace he could maintain.  But after crossing GO to start lap three A decided to make a move and told Jim it was his turn to pull.  The pace had slowed and in order to meet his goals Eh had to step it up and get serious with this climbing business.  That moved him into 6th place.  He was hoping to close the gap to 5th place but even with pace setting of Pete Thompson on lap 4 his efforts were futile and he came across the finish line in 6th.

B-Mac put on a good show but was not able to conjure up anything more than a 3rd place.  The two leaders in his class were able to soak up the bumps little better than him but he was more than happy with the 3rd place finish.

Now the Club gets a weekend off to rest and prep for the upcoming Maybury TT on Aug 17th and Stony XC on Aug 24th.