Power Line GNCC Race Recap

This weekend my Dad and I ventured to St. Clairsville, Ohio to compete in Round #12 of the Grand National Cross Country Series at Power Line Park. Although this race was not schedule into my 2006 racing calendar the decision was quickly made after securing a second place overall in the 250 B class for the PA State Harescramble Series the previous weekend. Race the last round of the State Series at a track that I don’t really like for the 3rd time this year for no reason or go race with the best in the country again? - It was an easy choice.
This time there would be no excuses, at Unadilla two weeks ago the conditions were terrible and the 3 hour race became a matter of survival. This time around would be quite different, a true showing of the potential of how good the 250 B riders are throughout the country. Not only was the weather absolutely perfect, the track - with some exceptions, was as good as any track that you could ask for. When you approached the facilities at Power Line Park you couldn’t help but to notice the beautiful rolling hills filled with bright green grass and colorful tree lines that were backed with a brilliant blue backdrop. It was something that you would see on a post card, only instead of dreaming how fun it would be to ride your bike up that gorgeous hill, you actually could for three hours.
We made the long 6 hour drive on Saturday morning and arrived at the park just in time to see our local quad boy Chris Borich win the pro quad race. Since we have never been to this track before my Dad and I took a look around at some of the terrain and how the track was laid out. For miles and miles all you could see where green rolling hills with light brown dirt paths connecting the woods between them, and right down the middle of the land were 4 massive power lines – hence the name Power Line Park.
In the woods you had your typical tight trails with your crazy GNCC technical hill climbs and down hills, a sweet creek section where they ran you right into a creek at the bottom of a valley, and let’s not forget Gus’s mud hole (I’ll come back to that). It was all of the open area that was the most extreme because it was so wide open and flat there were times that I was topped out in 5th gear. You would think it looks easy and that it was a good spot to relax before you went back into the black woods but it wasn’t. You could go so fast you really didn’t want to relax because you could make up some time. So what at first looked like a fun rideable track became a full out sprint for three hours, well that’s what I tried at least. Anyone in their right mind knows that you cannot go as fast as you can for three hours but in my case I pushed hard the whole time when in other occasions I would pace myself.
The start was an awesome set up. You went right up one of those beautiful hills that I was speaking of, made a left back down the hill, then a right back up the hill around a tree, then down again around a hay bail and then back up the hill into the woods. I got an alright start, probably mid pack in a full field of 30 + riders. The first lap was amazing, it was such a fast pace I never rode at that pace on such a long track. One lap turned out to be about 12 miles with the first lap losing one mile before the scanner. About 20 percent of the track was long rolling open trail, 60 percent was tight trails through the trees, 10 percent was hill climbs and down hills, 9 percent was mud holes with creek crossings, and then there was 1 percent –Gus’s Mud Hole. They claimed that it had a solid rock bottom but some would argue that it even had a bottom. I don’t even think it was mud; the “pond” has a dark grey color to it. You knew when you were arriving at this section of the track because there were hundreds of people there. With the help of the spectators, who eventually had to submerse themselves in the mud pit to show riders the best line, I made it through each time around – one time I almost drown my bike I barely made it across. That was the worst section on the track by far but there were still some other hill climbs where you had no running start, you went down a hill and then had to go straight back up it, and after 300 some riders trying this the hills became super slippery. By the last lap I got stuck on just about everyone and the spectators had to make a pull chain to get me over the top. I really couldn’t find a good flow all day but I made sure to keep pushing. The technical sections really took a lot out of me and by trying to make up time on the wide open hills I didn’t try to conserve much energy. I had a good pit halfway through the three hours; my Dad was head pitman for the weekend. He dumped the gas, I hydrated and grabbed some new goggles and gloves from him, it wasn’t more then a minute and I was back on it attacking the trail. After the first lap I came around and went through the scanner, I was in 23rd place. Never riding at this facility before certainly hurt me on the first lap, not to mention the tree I slammed which threw me across the trail with my bike still hugging the tree. When all was said and done and I couldn’t hold onto the bike anymore, three hours later I crossed the finish and picked up some spots coming in 19th in 250 B. This moved me up to 61st in the country, not bad for only racing in 2 out of 13 GNCC Rounds.
I would like to have done better and I could throw the some excuses out there but bottom line is this is the best competition in the country and when the conditions were ideal I got a real good idea of where I stand. I only raced 2 GNCC in the past three weeks and these guys follow the circuit all over the country. If I rolled in there and placed highly after only racing fulltime for 2 years it wouldn’t be saying much for the series. I did my best and I look forward to working hard at getting faster and smarter by riding with the best competition I can.
Thanks again to Pit Man D.Haggs Sr. who missed out on riding at Dutchmen just to come and pit for me in Ohio. You can catch him at the last race of the season in NJ for the last round of the AMA National Harescramble Series. He’ll be racing the amateur race in the morning and I will yet again be putting my body on the line for the three hour pro race in the afternoon. One more week!
(Server is down for pitures, I'll get them up as soon as possible)