Dwight’s Report…
I was joined by fellow WSI Cycling racer, Laura Stuchell, for the first Lord Of The Springs with me yesterday. It’s a great new race, but they do have a couple bugs to work out for next year (including a big ‘ole bottleneck at the start). But other than that, it was a great mix of Barry Roubaix gravel road racing and Yankee Springs singletrack. I raced fast but not aggressive, as they really promoted this race for new racers as well.
I got in line a little late…
The race started at 10:00 am, so I was surprised to see the folks that wanted to do well lined up before 9 o’clock! Of course, I didn’t get in line until 9:45. That being said, I got stuck in a bottleneck unlike any other I’ve been in before. Likely caused me several minutes off my time as the congestion cleared out, but overall I thought this was a great race that has a future.
I finished 7th in the single speed class with a time of 1 hour 53 minutes for 26 miles.
More cowbells!
Julie icing her wounds.
See you at the Lowell 50 in October!
~Dwight
Laura’s Report…
The Lord of the Springs Trail/Gravel bike race was a nice race for its first year. As with most first-year races, there are some areas for improvement such as a wave start rather than mass start and/or a longer thin out loop stand out as two changes that I hope they make for next year. The bottleneck going into the trail was a real bummer…. A lot of hurry up and wait.
What I really liked about this race was the challenge of going from trail to gravel and back to trail. I’m very new to trail riding (actually new to gravel racing too!) but like the change of focus this race required in going from trail to gravel and back to trail.
The conditions were great; a little warm but plenty dry. I wasn’t at all sure what to expect on this ride but ended up 5th out of 10 in my age group; which I’m happy with for my first Yankee Trail ride/race. My favorite part of the race was the Barry gravel and hills (the support/traffic control was good)… I’d say my least favorite was the Bassett Lake Rd sand pit hill, but it was a challenge that brought a new dimension to the race for me.
I’ll definitely keep this one on my to-do list for 2018! Next up Lowell and Iceman!!!
~Laura