Brighton Rec Repeat – July 13th, 2013 – Howell, Michigan – Brighton Recreation Area
After the Bloomer Park Daze race, I found out that I was leading the Tailwind Racing series in the Sport SS class. At the beginning of the race season, I was only planning on participating in the MMBA Championship Points Series, but the scheduling of the Tailwind races made it convenient to compete in that series as well. The only real scheduling conflict between them was on Saturday, when there were races at Boyne (MMBA) and Brighton. I was in 2nd in the MMBA series prior to Saturday, and Eric Wolting, who is leading that series, had a pretty big lead. So instead of trying to gain points in the MMBA CPS, I opted to defend my Tailwind points lead.
Having never ridden Brighton before, I did a bit of quick online recon which showed only about 200 feet of climbing per 6.5 mile race lap. Based on that, I decided to run 38 x 18, which is what I usually run at the Fort, which has a similar amount of elevation. At the park I ran into the usual east side crowd, but it was a relatively small field of just 6 participants. We lined up around 1 p.m. with temperatures in the mid-80’s, and hit the course.
I was first off the line and into the woods leading Tim Fargo and Nate Layle. Tim and I dropped Nate after a mile or so, and after passing a few other riders from other classes, I dropped Tim about 2.5 miles into the first lap. From this point in the race, I just kept my pace up to try to ensure I wouldn’t be caught. The Expert/Elite SS lap times were around 27-29 minutes, and I wanted to keep mine under 30. I completed my first lap in just about 29 minutes, and on my way back into the woods, I saw Tim and Nate coming out to finish their first lap – this meant that I had at least a minute on them. I tried to keep my pace consistent throughout my second and third laps, and apart from a brief moment of panic during my third lap when I thought Tim was close behind me, I managed to do so. I also made the choice to have a GU pack at the beginning of my third lap to try and prevent the fading I’d been experiencing, which I believe helped quite a bit. I finished in just over 1:30 for my second win on the season.
There are two more races in the Tailwind series, and four more in the MMBA CPS. My goal is to protect my Tailwind series lead, and to finish in the top 3 in the MMBA series. I’m going to keep my training intensity high, and possibly add in some running to increase my endurance. We’ll see how it shakes out! – Adam Cefai