"Backside" Race

The 11th race in the MWFTCS took place in the back part of Castlewood State Park. With the main artery severed a year or so ago many people have quit riding back there. Here is some history for those of you that have never been there.

There was once a trail that passed through a narrow piece of land between the Meramec River and the Union Pacific rail line. Always thought to be Castlewood land we rode through without care. After a few heavy rains and floods the river began to carve away at this outside bend and trees disappeared along with massive amounts of real estate. Soon signs showed up posting "no trespassing" and "Union Pacific-private property". This was our trail! WTF. Turns out the railroad owns an easement which now was being encroached upon as the pathway moved up the bank closer to the rail bed. I'm sure they were becoming concerned someone would get hurt and sue them. Funny thing is, that river bank is going to need serious repairs soon and maybe now the burden will fall upon the railroad and not Castlewood. Now the only way to legally get to the back section of Castlewood is to drive around to the town of Sherman Beach, or ride 3 miles of the Al Foster trail in from Glencoe, not very convenient. Some have chosen to break the law and continue to cross the private land. Either way the trails still exist and get more use than I expected to see.



Back to the race. With the first cross race today and a GORC workday the same day, turn out was not huge. There were 86 racers, well below the MWFTCS average, compared to 43 at the MOBRA race in July at the same place. Saturday races are always tough because those who work at a bike shop are generally working. We had 10 in the Marathon class for about 15 minutes, and then there were 9. Bummer Barry! No, the head tube is not supposed to come apart from the top and down tubes.



My plan was to just "ride" this race. I went a little harder than I wanted to, but it felt good. My hardtail is out of commission right now so I rode my dual squishy bike. Good choice for the roughness, just a little tougher on the steep climbs of which there were three spots that gave me trouble. Dwayne, now back from Denmark, left us behind at a 120bpm heart rate I'm sure. Eric Schuck led our group with Todd Holtmann following closely and me buzzing Todd's wheel. Jeremy Bock was the snake in the grass, conserving, calculating, ready to strike. Didn't take long for Eric to back off. We were all still tired from the 6 hour solo effort from last weekend. Todd and I cruised a few laps and I could see Jeremy behind us on the last climb each lap. Todd had a small puncture and was spaying sealant so I told him so. He stopped to check it out and I never saw him again. Wasn't my intention! I guess it sealed up and he kept going. I held Jeremy off for a while but soon he turned it up as I was turning it down. We rode together for a while until we came up behind a slower group. He had the gas to get around one of them and then run up the hill around the rest of them. I had to pick my way through the group and by the time I had, he was gone.



At this time I reverted back to my original plan to "ride". I had a lap and a half to go so I just gave it what I had on the flats and simply completed the climbs. I held on to 3rd and made my entry fee +$10 back.

Now for the real story. At 9, my son raced his 2nd mountain bike race. We've just started riding off road and I think he's doing incredibly well. We went out Friday night to get a feel for the terrain and there were many sections he wouldn't ride. In the race he blazed through a few of these sections like a pro. The kids race was on a modified course in the more flat part of the full race course. They did 20 minutes plus finish the current lap. Adam made it in 29 seconds before the cut-off and went back out for a third lap. He had just passed another rider and now had a clear trail in front of him. One of the hills he just barely made it over earlier he now flew over in 6th gear, he only has 8 and it's the hardest. He almost made it up one of the really big and steep hills that I never thought he would have even tried. In this very diverse group of kids ranging from first timers to 12 year-olds on adult bikes he got 6th and didn't get lapped, awesome! Most importantly, he had fun.