Trans-Sylvania Epic - Stage 1

State College, PA
Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic Sunday May 30, 2010
by: Joseph Castle

TSE Stage 1 - The Prologue

The kick-off of the initial Trans-Sylvania Epic 7 day mountain bike race in central PA was today at 3pm.

The first stage consisted of a fast 10 mile course around the campground at the 7 Mountains Boy Scout Camp.  Most of the course was set on gravel road, fire road, and a bit of single track.  The single track consisted of a nice loose rocky downhill with a large rock garden at the bottom and then a loose rocky uphill.  Both sections catch riders either with a crash on the way down or a couple touch downs on the way up.  The rest of the single track is freshly cut and soft and flowy.

I started first in my class.  I have the lucky number seven for my number plate for the week.  In my class, I am one of the few average guys when considering that I am racing with pros or semi-pro riders including Mark Weir from WTB, Harlon Price from CF, and the race favorite Jeremiah Bishop from Cannondale. 

We started this stage at one minute intervals and I was passed by seven guys in my class.  This was pretty much expected since this race is filled with heavy hitters.  I felt good and fast.  I started really fast since the nerves were high which made me feel out of sync with the way I usually ride.  During the first rocky downhill, I was bouncing around all over the trail, basically from rock to rock.  It was quite sloppy and somewhat humerous to the point of just hanging on until I made it to the bottom.  There were a couple of spectators at the bottom of the hill in a large rock rock-garden.  I managed to clear the garden and started heading up hill on the loose rocky stuff.  I put my foot down once in the usual spot but managed to do okay the rest of the way.  I looked down at my hrm and saw 5.6.  For those not familiar with hrm, there are only five zones to consider for training when considering percentage of max heart rate.  This meant I was going way too hard.  I had to pull back a little.

The rest of the ride went well where I started to get into my usual heart rate and enjoy the trails.  I was surprised to catch one Misfit Cycle guy with a flat but never caught anyone else.  All of the single speeders were in front of me so I didn’t really expect to see them.

The whole ride I kept wondering about my time.  At first it was whether I could finish in 45 minutes, then it was whether I would beat an hour.  It turned out that I finished in 54 minutes which was over 10 mph.  Respectable for me and a mountain bike speed.

Tomorrow we do a 45 mile ride.  I anticipate a long and hard day.