The first race of the Southern Classic Mountain Bike Series was "The Knot" held at the Poinsett State Park near Sumter, SC. The race feature 90%+ single track and lots of new trail (read soft) and a lot more climbing than I expected. I raced Clydesdale, and right from the gun three of us were off the front. First place (Josh) was gone, after 1-2 miles, I never saw him again, second place (Piggly Wiggly - if you race Clydesdale, is racing for Piggly Wiggly a good idea?) and me were riding together for the first half of the first lap. Piggly Wiggly crashed when we caught a back marker from an earlier wave and I got around him and tried to create a large enough gap so he would forget about me... it worked and I settled back into a rhythm through the first lap, 10.5 miles. This is my first race at Cat 2 distance and the second lap was going to be long. I caught a few riders, crashed, and found off quad cramps to keep my second place finish. 21 miles is an interesting distance to race MTB, shorter XC you red line the whole race, and the 12 hour and 100 mile races I have done are just ride along to finish. This hurt, but in a different way - "can I go faster? will I bonk if I do?" the whole race.... PS the park is very pretty and the trails are a lot of fun to ride!
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