This year’s Yankee Springs TT was very different from past years and not at all what I expected. Normally I would tell you my favorite part of any race is gritting my teeth digging in and venturing as deep as I can into the pain cave in hopes of eeking out a little extra speed. In the case of Yankee I found that sometimes doing the opposite can be just as much fun. I am sure it would be normal for me to write my race report on this blog but instead will share a race that was a lot more fun for me and far more promising for our sport.
My day started with far to many nerves and not enough go. I was fortunate though as Dan K. from Leadout Racing had asked me to coach/chase his 11 year old son Keegan through the woods during his beginner race. Keegan occasionally rides with us on and off road and has been making serious progress this year so it sounded like it would be a good way to get some miles in and have fun. At the start he made sure to point out Billy, another young kid that he races with a lot, and as we lined up we realized we would be starting the TT together and Keegan got pretty serious. From the gun he rode a steady and kept things smooth and consistent. Up until the first hill Keegan and Billy reeled in several riders that had started ahead of them and kept the pace very comfortable. As we started the a nice little grinder of a hill Billy dropped his chain and Keegan powered around him and up the hill and kept his intensity up for several minutes so as not to play rabbit for Billy. We had soon passed a good chunk of the 11-14 year old field and started catching adults in the beginner class. We treated each rider as a rabbit riding hard to catch them and then Keegan would recover just long enough to politely ask for a pass before starting to hunt his next target. It was a blast to see the lines and finesse a rider that young and light could take up the hills and through some of the tighter sections of the course. At one point I hip checked a tree trying to poach his line not realizing it wasn’t wide enough for me. As we got closer to the finish I new he was well ahead of his time goal of an hour and 30 minutes, but continued to encourage him to ride harder. At the same time I couldn’t help but be impressed by his consistent pace. He even cyclocross dismounted and ran the heavily rooted uphill to save time. With about 2 miles to go we started talking about the finish and how he had to go as hard as he could in the last mile as there would be “fans” everywhere. I was hoping he would be motivated and push harder with all the cheering. Coming into the last K I ducked the tape and hit the paved road through the camp ground to not interfere with his finish. As Keegan wound it up in the grass next to the road, I spun like crazy to make up for having to get outside of the tape. I am pretty sure if it wasn’t for the little section of singletrack right before the finish I would have never caught him as he crossed the line in 32X11 and was turning the gear over and himself inside out. He ended up beating his goal by over 10 minutes and finishing 4th in the 11-14 field. He also took over 25 minutes off his previous best time. I truthfully had a blast doing it and will almost certainly be chasing him around the Fort Custer course this coming weekend. I love racing and competition, even if it isn’t me competing. It is also great just to see someone else accomplish their goal and share in a small part of their experience especially someone so young and motivated about the sport we love. All in all it was impressive to see so many young kids in general that have discovered mountain biking. I am also a big enough man to admit I bet him an ice cold coke that he couldn’t beat his time goal and happily paid up so he could sit and recover with it while he waited for his sister to finish her race.
All photos courtesy of Dan Socie
