Big Bear Lake Mountain Bike Classic

By Brad Walker:

The Big Bear Classic in Bruceton Mills, WV was my first race racing for Team Flying Dog and also my first race in the expert single speed category. To be honest, the expert category scares the hell out of me since I have only been riding for less than a year, regardless of what people think of my riding ability. So I make the 2 hour trek out to Big Bear for the first time, the weather is calling for a nice day as I leave my home in Hagerstown. On my way West and less than thirty minutes out, the weather drastically changes and I’m pulling up to the ski resort in 30 degree weather calling for a couple inches of snow. This weather typically wouldn’t bother me but I came with just my cycling shorts and fingerless gloves. To heck with it I think to myself and get my race plate and do a once over the bike. Being my first single speed race I line up at the very back of the group due to not knowing how the pace would be for the more competitive riders. I thought for sure the race director would stage all the experts instead of one big mass start but of course, that’s exactly what he did, all the racers heading towards a bottleneck. As I look back now, I should have pushed my way to the front and started with a chance to start strong cause the bottleneck really screwed my race up starting in the back. I start at the back because at this point in my riding expeirence I have confidence issues sometimes in races and have yet to aquire the killer instict. The race starts, and already Im beyond freezing and cant feel my fingers, so I suck it up and start picking off riders in the singlespeed and geared classes, I continue to reel in the racers who were smart enough to start in the front. This continues and I can see Montana Miller who is a very strong single speeder about 4 places ahead of me and from what I can see is leading the single speed class. This gives me a boost of confidence that maybe I can hang with some of the faster riders and of course that confidence is stoped dead in its tracks by a broken chain while musceling over some rocks. On a 10 speed geared chain, a broken chain is no big deal, 5 or so minutes and im back racing, being that I am on a single speed it creates more of a dilemma. Not only do I have to fix the chain but I have to loosen and adjust the sliders, not fun. Fix my chain, make the adjustment and I’m back on the bike feeling good again only to have my rear tire flatten 5 miles down the trail while over aggressively decending a tricky rocky section. I have yet to make the switch to tubeless and inside my head I am really starting to scream at myself, so I make the repairs and start racing again. At this point, Im in the very back of the race I would guess and I put the hammer down with about 5 miles to go telling myself I will not finish last. I was able to reel in a few of the single speeders and a handfull of the geared riders which is always nice considering they have gears! Finish the race in 11^th place in the single speed class and alittle over 20 minutes off the winner, no chain or tire issues…who knows! This was a great learning expierence for me as it showed that a few little adjustments can make a huge difference either good or bad in a race, especially when racing against very able riders. So next time, I will start in the front, tires will be tubeless, and I will attempt to have some belief that I belong.