2010 King of Burlingame MTB Time Trial Recap

Threshold began expanding its repertoire from road to cross this fall. This spring a number of us have furthered this trend and are racing a relatively ambitious cross country mountain bike schedule. Today was the season opener, the King of Burlingame MTB Time Trial, put on by the Eastern Fat Tire Assoc. (EFTA) in Burlingame State Park, RI.

WTF is a MTB time trial? Well, Einstein, it is pretty self explanatory and also very AWESOME. Actually, wicked pissah’ awesome, even from a New Yorker. Basically, the course is really excellent, but is a bit too technical and narrow to make a mass start event feasible. The folks at EFTA turned it into a TT instead, and created a unique, well run race with a very mellow, friendly vibe.

Ken and I had previewed the course two weeks ago in the monsoon and, quite frankly, were terrified. There will likely be a number of course descriptions on the interwebs, so I won’t go into details here, but basically, Ken and I (okay, just me really) don’t know how to a) read instructions b) follow instructions and c) use a map to follow a course (roadies). So, we previewed some parts of a course that ARE NOT actually on the course, and ultimately were scared for nothing.

I had just finished telling Ken that, no matter how many races I have done in my life, and no matter how relaxed I am about them in the days, hours, etc. leading up to them, when I am standing on the start line, the jittery butterflies are always there. Today I discovered the ultimate cure: get a lovely gentleman with an Irish brogue to be the startman. Might have to get him for THRESHCROSS!!!!!

We were slightly behind schedule, so he fills in the gap with a story about a stuttering, yet successful, bible salesman that got everyone giggling. Not something that you would EVER encounter at a road or cross event. I liked it. Also, there were actually KIDS in the juniors…I mean, not the kids we see at road or CX events that are 12 year old Cat 1’s, but actual kids. Some were in jeans, their bikes cost less than my car and they all finished smiling, covered in mud. I know that because Ken pushed most of them onto the ground when he ran to the podium at the awards announcement .

Anyhow, Ken and I managed not to cash out on the tricky sections, and lay it down on the less technical bits. I had one close call when I was launching the stair-stepper descents (Devo, you would have been proud!) and hung a rear wheel just as my front wheel went into the mud. Luckily, I stayed upright. Ken had a friendly roadie vs. MTB dual going on with his -0:30s man…he would pass Ken on the technical sections, but ultimately Ken managed to light the nitro on the power sections, finishing ahead of him by a sizeable margin, but sadly, not 30s, and finished 2nd in his age group.

I was so impressed by how friendly folks were at this event, everyone was happy to slide out of the way when I approached and were super encouraging the entire way. I was lucky to be on the wheel of a rigid single-speed rider for a bit…it was pretty wild to watch him use his momentum and line-choosing abilities to make up for the lack of gears and suspension…pretty cool.

In the end, Ken finished 2nd in his age group (eg “Old Balls” 40-100) and 7th overall in the Cat 3 field (of ~40 total). I finished 1st in the Cat 3 overall and 1st in my age group (eg “Young and spectacular” 19-39). Looking forward to the next one!