Race Report: Bear Springs Trap, McCubbins Gulch on Mt Hood, Oregon
April 25-26, 2009
by Elaine Bothe
It’s a late April weekend in Oregon. What to do for a challenge and some exercise. Hike? Run? Ski? Mountain bike?
How about some of each! Both of the Bear Springs Trap mountain bike races were a tremendous challenge and a ton of fun. I got exactly what I wanted: a big challenge, feedback on where my mt bike skills are and my expectations of the unexpected which were 110 percent fulfilled.
I’ve never ridden my mt bike on snow before, so, what the heck, I gave it a shot.
Turns out it’s twistedly fun, especially when I made it through places that others didn’t. It also turns out that crashing on snow isn’t a bad way to crash, as I got my share of that too.
Day One, Saturday’s short track race was all of 30 minutes long. After driving up to the venue with some snow and ice on the roads, I was concerned about the weather but it turned out to be nice enough for just tights and a jacket, not snow pants, parkas and Bar Mitts.
We started out in the middle of the campground parking lot, shot up a fire lane onto a hearty gravel road climb then flew down a single track descent with several deeply rutted snow patches, a few token roots and a rocky section, some deliciously bermed corners and whoops and a muddy “S” section before popping back onto the road for another lap.
A woman I’d never met before named Eileen clobbered me on the hills, and I thought I was good on the hills. But my technical skills were better, particularly through the snowy sections. (I practiced, previewing the course 7 or 8 times to warm up so I got faster each time). We went back and forth, fighting for the lead up the hill.
We both knew she could take me on the hill but if I got ahead of her on the decent, I’d have it. Now I’m leading. Lap 4: I crash on a newly exposed rock in a snowy section. I decide to notch it back to stay under control and finish in one piece. Eileen caught up and passed me on the hill. Lap 5, I kept her in sight, waited patiently for my opening. Three laps to go.
Ha! I got right behind her, stayed quiet, waited… and sprang a sprint past her at the end of the decent onto the road. With a bit of a head start, I lead again that whole lap but she catches up and passes me on the hill. Rats. She’s first onto the singletrack. Lap 7.
OK. Game on. I’m thinking about the next passing opportunity. Wait… Then it happens, down she goes in the snow! An easy landing, “are you ok?” I get around her downed bike and ride like crazy. She doesn’t keep up, and I take the win, my first victory in a bike race. Eileen comes in 2nd. Great race! We both chatted and shook hands afterward.
Day Two, the cross country race, 18 miles of who knows what. Preparing for the worst and expecting many snowy running sections and maybe a creek crossing or two, I bought foot warmers at a ski shop in Government Camp. Thick and wooly socks, if my feet are going to be wet, at least they’ll be warm. All layered up, I warm up. The sun comes out. It’s actually nice! Still not sure how high the course will go and how cold it might be, I keep my hat on but remove the outer gloves and a fuzzy layer under my jacket.
There are a lot more people racing, I don’t know who my competition is. I don’t see Eileen as we corral for the mass start. The whistle blows and off we charge down the same road and up the fire lane. Today we keep going up the power line trail, which is covered in snow. Scores of people, running up the hill with their bikes. Glad I cross train!
I’m passing people, people are passing me.
Abby, a talented rider who just started mt biking last year passes me on the run, apparently she’s a talented runner, too. Abby’s in the middle of a bunch of women, including me at the tail end. We leave the snow, jump onto our bikes and head into the forest for a rolling loop. I try to hang onto this pack but they move away.
Now I’m on my own. I pass one or two people here and there, some others get by me, too. I’m not racing with anyone, just out for a lovely Sunday ride. Aapparently there are some amazing views, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Rolling trails through the forest, some wonderful shale Gorge-hiking trail style traverses (what a cool sound under my tires!), snow sections, up, down, mud, dust, some of everything. This isn’t bad! I take off my hat on the run under the power lines again.
I get plenty of opportunities to perfect my uphill bike pushing techniques. Wrong gear, or too loose of dirt/stone on the trail or too much mud.
Now, I’m on a wonderful decent, a quick rolling section with nice dirt. The trail T-boned into a dirt road, all of a sudden I’m alarmed. No trail markers, no tire marks, nobody in sight. Now what? I’m looking at the sun, that’s south, trying to remember what loop I’m on and where it is relative to the camp. Note to self, bring a good map of the area and a compass next time!
Ugggh, I head back up the hill, knowing I missed a turn someplace. How far back? About 200 feet or so, another rider comes along. He hadn’t seen any arrows either… did we just enter a vortex in the time-space continuum? A really bad horror movie or what?
He stops, since I’m in his way. I turn around, and I see a fast-moving blurry figure in the treetops. Goosebumps… not really, I just made that part up. We head back down the hill and aha! there it is. A couple of corners later, I just missed an arrow sign by ducking to avoid a branch. Whew. Just a race, no dramatic vortex or alien creatures wanting to devour our souls.
The hardest part of the whole day was yet to come, after I’d been biking hard and running already for almost 2.5 hours.
The trail wound down to a creek, and became really rocky, and REALLY rooty and muddy. It was both frustrating and inspirational (I think I’ll look for a bicycle trials camp to increase my skills). I would not have even guessed it was a trail if the arrows hadn’t pointed that way and if the Cat 1 and Pro riders were not catching up and actually riding over parts of it. And at the end of their 30 miles of who knows what!
I rolled in all by myself in 3rd place, happy to see the parking lot and the finish line. I got to try (and crash over) some fun stuff that I would not have attempted if it wasn’t a race, I got to discover some new trails to explore later in the year and I had a great time.
April 26, 2009 Mt Bike Cross Country Race: 3rd Place, Cat 2 Womens 35+
Muchos Gracias to the promoters and race sponsors, River City Bicycles for a last-minute wheel true and front derailleur replacement, Jeff Tedder and Shari for delivering the highly effective Hammer Nutrition products that really kept me going over two days of intense mt. bike racing followed by a motorcycle track day, Christa at Epic Rider Research and my trusty Mountain Feed Bag that held my handy Hammer Flasks full of the good stuff, Acme Moto Wear, Dustin at Icon Tattoo, Lifeflight Membership Services for NOT needing them, Corey at Seven Corners Bicycles for keeping me in road bike wheels, my hubby Mark for all his love and support, and my Sorella Forte teammates, friends and family. For inspiration and assistance, all of you are the best.
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