Briar Chapel XC Report

Off road racing at Briar Chapel. These are some nice trails. Not terribly long, but a super fast-n-flowy section and lots of tricky rocky sections. Not much climbing, but it keeps you working. Great course for singlespeed racing. My first mtb race in about a year. Got beat by Alex H (as always) and some dude in a tie-dyed tank top. This dude showed up somewhere midway through the first lap, asked to pass, and when I obliged, he dropped me like an 8:00AM calculus class. I was surprised until I figured his trick. Well two tricks, actually. The first trick is to shred. The second trick is to wear a distracting shirt so fashion snobs like me think that he's some poser and that I don't notice that he rockin' a carbon Niner. Indeed, I was worried about the early speediness of the dude on a rad Wolfhound (he was fast), but didn't consider the tie-dye guy. Obviously, the bike does not make the rider fast, but it may give you a hint. 

Anyhoo, here's my fashion-snobiness in action. New kits!!!

(photos graciously donated from "debpt"'s snapfish album, posted up on trianglemtb.com)

It was way hot and dusty. But, in typical Triangle racing fashion, everyone out there was cool and easygoing. People were friendly and racers would let you pass if you asked. It's such a refreshing change from road riding. All we needed was beer laps. 

The O.G. was out. He works nearby now and rides these trails a lot so he was able to provide me with a useful scouting report. The O.G. dug deep.

 And in case you're wondering about the single-gloved fashion style and potential gang-sign:

well, apparently, the O.G. crashed hard and jammed (broke?) his fingers. He rolled in to the finish with some puffy-digits, a mostly-flat front tire, and a lot of sweat. His fingers were pretty jacked-up, but I think (hope) that they are mostly okay, but he may never play that Eddy Van Halen guitar solo again.

A fun time was had by all. We saw some friendly faces and did not suffer heatstroke. Thanks to the TORC folks for the first in yet another awesome series.