Race 2 – 2012 Charlotte Summer Mountain Bike Series

ByMike Byrd

Originally Posted 4/25/2012

The first official race of the Charlotte Summer Series Mountain Bike Series hosted by Charlotte Sports Cycling was at North Mecklenburg Park.  I took the Cool Breeze Van down N. Meck and set the tent up.  With this being the first race and at a relatively easy course, the numbers were impressive.  I’m betting Neal had over 150 racers.  The Cool Breeze/Trek Bike Store team had 12 racers!  A great turn out!

I decided to race the Super Sport class for the Charlotte Mountain Bike summer series.  I considered the Expert class but don’t have a USAC expert license so I couldn’t sign up for the extra length required of the expert class.   We had 12 racers in the Super Sport class which is a great turnout for this class.

The mountain bike race started at the top of the parking lot, with a hard right turn at the bottom to enter the course.  I didn’t get a great start and followed my Team Mate Andy Good into the woods in 10th place.  I figured this was OK considering we had 4 laps to complete.  The group was pretty much together for most of the first lap.  About half way through the first lap, a gap opened up and 4 or 5 riders got away.  I decided that I would wait until we exited the woods to see if I could make up some ground.  The first lap was pretty uneventful and I felt good on the bike.

We exited the woods, I put the hammer down and managed to just pass Santana (Giordana-Clif Bar-Brica) going into the woods.  I was able to make up 4 spots but really had to work hard.  I kept working hard until I was able to make contact with the lead group.  Things were going well until we hit a steep section and caught a lapped rider.  Unfortunately, I slammed into the racer in front of me because I wasn’t expecting us to have to stop.  I ended up having to un-clip, run up the hill, and in the mean time, was passed by a rider in our class.  I managed to catch up to the group again and was planning my move when we exited the woods again.

Like all good plans in mountain bike racing, they only last so long.  I was doing well when I washed out on a left turn.  It’s amazing how riders can get away when you crash.  I didn’t think I was down very long before getting back on my bike, but lost contact with the lead group.  I was red lined coming out of the woods, backed off, drank some water and tried to figure out where I was.  I was able to see the last rider entering the woods about 100 yards in front of me.

Thinking I’d have no problem catching up, I kept going at a good pace.  Unfortunately, i ended up catching some lapped riders at the wrong time.  I didn’t think it was costing me too much time, but I wasn’t able to catch the lead group.  I kept riding as hard as I could thinking that maybe they would slow down.  On the 4th lap, I managed to see the lead group on some of the trail, but N. Meck is so twisty, that what looked close, wasn’t so close.  I kept thinking I’d catch the lead group.

But it wasn’t going to happen, not at N. Meck.  I ended up in Sixth Place, 35 seconds off of 1st Place.  So considering the course, crashes, lapped riders, I’m happy with my effort. I didn’t quit and had a ton of fun.  And the team is in 2nd place after the first event of the Summer Series.

The Bike Racer

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the Internet. My name is Mike Byrd and this is my website. I enjoy sports, being outside, new challenges, marketing and anything that comes my way. I am the author of the blog posts on thebikeracer.com. I enjoy writing about cycling, poiltics, coffee and anything else that fits in the "My World" category. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to say up to date on anything new that gets posted to thebikeracer.com.

Similar Posts

  • 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC 2009

    ByMike Byrd

    Another 24HR Burn Challenge in Wilkesboro, NC has come and gone. We (mostly Mike) put together a team consisting of me, Mike Levine, Ashley Drum, Jasen Taylor and Shannon St. Claire (Brushy Mountain Bicycles). John from Cool Breeze Cyclery was our mechanic. Mike rented a sweet RV fifth wheel for us to set up camp – or really so that he could have A/C and a shower. (Which Ashley made the most use of all weekend). Mike went up on Friday night to reserve our spot and set up camp. We definitely had the best spot as we were overlooking the lake and trees on the opposite side of the lake – and got to watch every racer finish his/her lap. Fortunately he was in the RV when the big storm hit on Friday night that would have an effect on the rest of the weekend.

  • Shootout on Anglers Ridge

    ByMike Byrd

    Andy Good and I headed up to the ‘Shootout on Angler’s Ridge’ on March 13th.  Andy raced in the Sport 50+ class and I raced in the Sport 40+ class.

    My race had about 25 people in the class and it was good to see some familiar faces in the lineup.  I was on the front row of our group which seemed like a good place to be until the Race Director called ‘role’. By the time my name was called, I was on the 3rd row for the start of the race.

  • 2012 NODA Criterium

    ByMike Byrd

    April 15, 2012 was the inaugural NODA Criterium held in NODA (North Davidson) in Charlotte, NC.  Since I had raced the Dillworth Criterium the day before, I slept in and did somethings around the house before heading down to NODA.

    I arrived about 45 minutes before my race, got dressed and found Mike Levine of Mills-Levine.  We warmed up for about 20 minutes.  MIke had raced the 4/5 race and was going to race the 3/4 race.  This would be our first chance to race together.  The course in NODA is super fun.  it has 6 turns and is a fast course with a long uphill drag on the back of the course.

  • 2011 Ion Smack Down – Charleston, South Carolina

    ByMike Byrd

    I headed to Charleston, SC for a weekend of criterium racing.  I left on Friday, April 15th after going for a 25 mile ride in Mooresville.  We arrived in Charleston around 6:30 and Leah and Neal arrived shortly thereafter.   We all went to dinner and celebrated Neal’s birthdays. 

    I woke up early (5AM) Saturday morning to help Neal set up the crit course. We arrived at the venue around 5:45AM and started unloading his trailer to get the stage and truss setup.  Things were pretty nervous as the forecast was for major winds and rain.  We got everything setup with 15 minutes to spare.  The good news was that the rain held off and the course started drying up.

  • Race 4 – 2011 Charlotte Winter Short Track Series

    ByMike Byrd

    I was hoping for a good day on the bike after last weeks successful race.  The racers were sure that the course was going to be a wreck as it rained pretty much all of Friday and most of Saturday morning.

    I was able to get to the course a little earlier than normal and actually get about 25 minute warm up with some sprints to get the legs going.  They were a little sore because I reffed two lacrosse games in Chapel Hill on Saturday.  But I did feel good in the warm up.

  • 2012 Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships – Day 1

    ByMike Byrd

    Chester and I left the Cool Breeze Cyclery at 3PM and headed to Augusta for the 2012 Paralympic Road Nationals.  We made it to Augusta in 3 hours and checked into the Sheraton.

    Chester asked me a couple months ago to pilot his tandem at Nationals but I don’t think I really understood how big a deal it is.  It started to sink in when we rolled through the hotel parking lot and there was a line of about 100 cyclists with their time trial bikes.  They were in line to get their bikes inspected by USA Cycling!