James M. Donohoe: Rockhopper Classic 2011 MTB race report

The Rockhopper Classic MTB race is back after disappearing in the mid-90s.

Quick overview: A mix of singletrack and fire road with short steep climbs.
Date: Saturday, May 7, 2011
Total riders: 212 starting, 182 finished (I think 253 signed up?)
Results: http://timeyourrace.com/Rockhopper/2011/Results.htm
Distance/Elevation: Each lap is 9.5 miles with ~1600 feet of climbing.
Website: http://www.monticellocycling.org/rockhopper.html

Good: Challenging course, clear course markings, excellent spectator viewing.
Bad: One minute intervals between groups is not enough. Not a ton of places to pass cleanly.

I had never ridden at Lagoon Valley Park before so I was not sure what to expect. As we pulled up to the park, I thought that the hills did not look too difficult but looks are deceiving. I entered CAT2/Sport which meant two laps. My realistic goal was 2:15 with a hopeful goal of going under two hours.

The intervals between classes were one minute and they clumped all CAT2 racers together. It was halfway through the first lap before things opened up enough for clean passes. The downhill sections were especially annoying and I ended up going off course a few times to make some passes.

Making a pass on the first lap.

Races with multiple loops that come through the start/finish are always a mind trip and this was no different. After finishing the first lap in 1:01, I was pretty smoked. My heart rate monitor had been hovering between 5.2 and 5.4 - basically anaerobic - and I knew my goal of breaking two hours was not going to happen. I would have been happy to go get my burrito and call it a day but I pressed on of course.

Pushing hard to make up time.

During the second lap the wind kicked up and made the course more difficult. I estimated ~20 MPH with 30+ MPH gusts on top of the hills. On a few of the trails my front wheel kept getting pushed around and I had to lean into the wind to keep from falling over. Since the racers had spread out and the CAT3 folks were off the course, passing was a little easier. About 1:35 into the race my legs started giving me signals that cramping was imminent and I backed off my effort and kept my heart rate in zone 5.0-5.2. The muscle cramps kicked in hard about ten minutes later and the last fifteen minutes were pretty painful but thankfully the last part of the course is mostly downhill or flat.

I crossed the line at 2:08 according to my GPS making my second lap six minutes slower at 1:07 giving me 15th out of 26 racers with 5 DNFing (Did Not Finish).
Garmin GPS export: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/84304161
Endomondo: http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/iHpVebTNzYw

Looking at the pictures my lovely bride took I realized just how easy it was for spectators to watch a big part of the race without having to run all over the place. Definitely spectator friendly.

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/james.donohoe.picasaweb/201158RockhopperClassicMTB#
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-PGhe_Lktc