Landahl

Saturday June 21st saw a group of four Mesa riders driving across the great state of Missouri to contest the final round of the Heartland Sports series held at the pristine trail system at Landahl Reserve in Blue Springs the following day. After a brief stop in Columbia for Dave to eat a pizza and the rest of us to get heckled by some crusties, we arrived at the Pear Tree Inn for a sound nights sleep and a free breakfast the following day. Waking saw the usual intake of yogurt, oatmeal, bananas and much coffee and we set the Impreza's sights on the battleground.

Upon arriving, we had enough time for a pre-ride warmup lap. The course was in amazing shape and was just moist enough to be tacky and few, if any mud spots. This was an amazing deviation from the non stop rain and subsequent mud bogs that have plagued our season and led this particular series to cancel two of its races. It was fast with little climbing and incredibly twisty, the sort of course that brings a smile to my face.

Our expert race was run with a mass start and scored by age groups. So, while I wasn't racing all of the 35 people I lined up with, I treated the race as if I was and it was the largest field I've started in during my humble racing career. The siren went off at 12:05 and the group strung out through the field up to the single track. A poor position on the line and poor starting skills had me in an undesirable spot, but I was able to cut off about six people through the switchback going into the singletrack. Instantly, the Breslin freight train of eight semi-pros and top experts was off and I was at the back of a six man chase group behind. I tried to move up before the climb, but everyone else in the line shut down my efforts. I opted to not go to far in the red before the main challenge of the course, a steep and short loose rock climb. There was chaos on the climb which split the chase group. Being on the wrong end of the group, I now found myself in a second chase group. Through the tight single track and into the field, I could see the rest of the race ahead and began to try and close the gap. Following the second field and into the final bit of singletrack, I had passed a few people when I lost my front wheel and wrapped myself around a tree. This was highly counterproductive and led to me being passed by everyone I had just gone by.

Going into the second lap, I was alone, but I began to see a group of riders ahead. I passed a rider from the Wheel and caught Tom Albert in the second field. I made sure to get in front of him going into the final single track and continued to ride clean. I kept bouncing off trees as I weaved through them, but luckily, I no longer felt the need to hug one. Keevan caught us toward the end of that lap, but an untimely flat put and end to his bid for a perfect season. As Tom and I went into the third lap, he told of a group of three 360 riders ahead who were pacelining all the open sections, but were riding poorly in the technical parts. In the first field, they were in sight, but 45-50 seconds up. By the end of the next singletrack section heading into the field, they were at about fifteen seconds. I went as hard as I could through the field, putting them about ten seconds up. In the final run through Tasty Goodness, Tom and I caught some sport riders who crashed into him , knocking him off and I never saw him again. Towards the end of this section, I managed to catch all the 360 riders and pick my way through them. Very satisfying.

The fourth lap saw two 360 riders catch me before the climb, but after the climb and ensuing singletrack, I never saw them again. The rest of the lap saw me pick off two more riders and go on to finish 6th in my age group and 14th overall. The results don't say much, but I felt very strong and the last half of my race went very well. I also pulled myself closer to several racers who are traditionally much faster. Additionally, time gaps were reduced to a manageable amount and I can actually think of someday riding at the top. I can see myself improving and it feels good to actually race competitively in such a big field. If my progress continues, the upcoming months and years might see a new level of focus from me. The short tracks are just around the corner and will provide me with an opportunity to improve speed and handling. I hope this trajectory continues...

Congratulations to Dave for a HUGE win against a stacked field of semi-pros and former national champions. Congratulations to Drew for his sport class win, we'll see him in the expert field next year. Sympathy for Christopher and Keevan for their ill luck, next race will be better. The White Wave keeps rollin...