| XC races hurt, and this year's rendition of the Greenbrier Challenge was no exception. With my first few races being geared towards either endurance or Super D I was a little unsure on where my fitness would be during a 2 hour stomp fest. The Pro men's field was looking strong at the starting line with many of the local teams supporting a strong lineup including the Scott Pro Mountain Bike Team, the Stan's NoTubes Trans-Sylvania Epic Team, DCMTB, and the Giant Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Team. Having ridden very little this past week battling a busy work, school, and home improvement schedule I took an early lead to the front in order to at least gain a mental advantage over the rest of the field. After making my way halfway through the first lap I saw that my move was a success as myself, Cameron Dodge, Aaron Snyder, and Ryan Fawley had split from the pack. Cameron took the next pull keeping the pace steady through the remainder of the first lap, and then it was Ryan Fawley who would go off next demonstrating dominant early season fitness. By the third lap Ryan and Cameron dropped the hammer as Ryan continued to attack leaving Aaron and I off of the lead pace. Towards the end of the third lap I put some time on Aaron and found myself temporarily in no-man's land until I was caught by Ian Spivack and Jeff Dickey who were hammering along in search of the leaders. The three of us rolled through the end of the third lap together passing Ryan who was having some bike difficulties. We continued to chase on throughout the 4th lap, but by the final lap they had turned up the pace once again leaving me to finish solo in 4th. Jeff wound up taking the win passing Cameron on the final technical climb with Ian in tow who finished 2nd for the day. Stephen Cummings rounded out the top 5. | |
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