Mobster Makes Podium...

Contributed by MOB member Bruce Brown

I attended the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival this past weekend and did the XC race. It was originally scheduled for Saturday morning, but 5+ inches of rain in 48 hours had the race postponed until Sunday morning. Weather was perfect on Sunday morning in the parking lot when I arrived:



I entered the Sport Category which had about 40 of us lining up on the line. There were about a dozen in Expert and only 1 rider in the Beginner Class. So total mass starting line had around 50+ riders taking off at the gun. Full write up about the Fat Tire Festival and race can be found here.

Rather than repeat my full write up, I'll just say this was the most challenging XC race course I have ever encountered. The opening climb at altitude was 4 miles with very little recovery during that climb. The final descent was 3 miles on a Super-D race course that was breath taking, nail biting, and challenging enough to fill any flatlander's bib with the morning's breakfast! I had nothing to lose in this race, so I left nothing in the tank. I let it all out and dug deep into my training every second of the race. Felt like puking twice, but I kept hammering and drooling the entire time.

The singletrack averaged in width of 6 - 12", was filled with various jagged rocks and because of the steep drop offs on the off camber track, one had to pay full attention of their balance, take care to not over-counter steer and look ahead on the trail to stay focused on what was coming up. I loved it!

I guess my legs and lungs were in good form after my recent shedding of 15 pounds because I was smashing the climbs. I did the race on my Dos Niner with a 2 x 9 drivetrain, so my granny ring was 29T which wasn't exactly the best thing on that 4 mile climb, but I stayed seated and ground my way up that beast. We had to do that 4 mile climb twice in the sport category. I only had to unclip once as I misjudged a nasty rock right after a switchback on the 2nd lap which left my balance in question. I unclipped to prevent toppling down a rather steep side of the mountain. That cost me about 10 seconds just when I was 20 feet behind the guy in 2nd place. I tried to catch him on the Super-D 3 mile descent, but he was a local racer and knew that trail very well (so he told me after the race was over). He said he has been practicing there for 10 years. Hmmmmm...I guess he knew the lines. I tried to catch him on the final flat sprint to the line, but shot my wad too early in the sprint and came across the line 12 seconds behind him for 3rd place overall and 1st place in the 40+ category. It was a sweet race and challenge for me.

Post race wondering what just happened:


We have to get more of the MOB out for next year's Fat Tire Festival. Awesome event and there were group rides every 1/2 hour Thursday - Monday that shuttled riders in vans all over the Black Hills. Here are a few shots...









I'm looking forward to Lake Manawa this Saturday. Nothing but flat on that course with lots of tight, twisty turns, logs and straight aways for the big ring power pushers. After climbing thousands of feet in the Black Hills, a course that only has one 5 foot climb is just what the doctor ordered...

BB over and out...