Glacial Hills Challenge - EXPERT Cat (XC Race) - 2019

The was an EXPERT/Cat 1 XC Race in the 40-49 age group. The race was held at the Glacial Hills Pathway in Bellaire, MI on August 18, 2019. This was my first race in Expert Cat after racing the previous 5 races in Sport Cat. In Sport for the 2019 season I won the Championship Point Series (CPS) and it was time for me to move up. This was race #8 (of 10) in the CPS. The race started with an uphill road climb before we dropped into the single track. The pace was very strong from the start as I set power PBs for the first couple minutes, which made me nervous knowing I had another 2+ hours remaining. Luckily I was able to recover and felt strong throughout the race.

I didn't "race" this event exactly, as I never knew what place I was in or who was in my age group (40-49). Also, I haven't raced XC for over 2 hours before, I didn't know exactly how to pace it, so played it more conservative than normal. I just put in a strong effort throughout the race but I realized after I had more to give at the end of the race. I took 6th place (out of 12) which was better than expected and was only 40 seconds behind 4th. 1st and 2nd place were in another league (10+ minutes ahead), but the remaining places appeared to be a tighter battle. Looking forward to the 2020 season where I hope to be more competitive, as the remainder of 2019 will be a learning experience in Experts.

Issue with the rear camera and it didn't record any video. The front camera ran out of battery and didn't record the remaining 28 minutes. I'm going to need to find a solution for battery life for the longer races.

Видео Glacial Hills Challenge - EXPERT Cat (XC Race) - 2019 канала MI-XC