Boom Island B1
From: Jeff Ingham
Date: Oct 15, 2007 11:19 AM
Here what happened in the B1 race.
The most important part of the Boom race is getting a good start. I
wanted to hit the first off camber turn in the front and be on the
inside of the turn. The second most important part is hitting the
run-up on lap one at the front before the chaos of the field gets
there. So I stood and sprinted as hard as I could and dove for the
inside of the turn. As I got thru the turn in the first 4 or 5 there
was the crunch of metal on the outside of the turn and at least 3
people went down. Now the sprint down the gravel road, which has
definitely deteriorated over the last two years and I hear someone
else go down on one of the big rocks.
Now a group of us maybe 10 to 15 strong has a gap on the field, I’m
running around 9th. We sprint down the single track and I manage to
hit every giant tree root Rich has warned me about. Thru the taped
section and with some new tires I was pretty strong here, though I
wish I would have used a mud tire on my rear wheel. Thru the fast
section leaders all strung out single file, the pace is really hard.
Lap 2 is also really hard, I’m drooling and my tounge is probably
hanging out. I manage to hit all the tree roots again on lap two, my
single track skills pretty much suck. At the end of lap2 I see they
post 5 laps to go, ouch I don’t think I can hold the lead pace so I
try to go as hard as I can without exploding thinking if I can pace
myself a little bit the guys in front will blow up and I can start
picking them off, which is a bad strategy becuase not too many blew
up. When in doubt attack.
The next 5 laps are a blur of pain and drool, I’m smooth thru the
switch backs but suck on the single track, no problem with the
barriers. the giant tree root is a problem every lap. Finally the
last lap and I use Sara as an effective block diving to the inside
just before the last barrier. I put in a decent sprint I think I
finish 17th. A pretty good race but I shouldn’t have tried to
conserve anything, better to explode trying to win than save something
for nothing.
Good Beer
Looking forward to Powderhorn