Highland Hex

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This past weekend was the kickoff to the New York State Endurance Racing Series (NYSERS). The 6 hour format kicked off with race #1 of 4, the Highland Hex. Held at the Highland Forest park, just south of Syracuse, NY.

The 29er Crew was well represented in the Solo categories, with Mark and Suzanne Hartman toeing the line along with myself.

The rain held off overnight, and the course conditions while wet, were still fast. Highland is know for it’s climbing and this time around the course wouldn’t disappoint.

Suzanne had an awesome day turning in 7! laps, here she is taking the holeshot at the start of the race!

She’s all business on the start, I don’t think anyone was gonna top her on this day!

I held my own on the first lap at the tail end of the lead group. I didn’t want to start out to fast and blow up, then spend a lap recovering. I kept the front 3 within 30 seconds or so through the first 2 laps, the slipped back a little when I had to take a nature break (hey, it’s a long race!). The legs finally came around somewhere on that 3rd lap and I was pulling in the 3rd place rider. I quickly caught and dispensed him on the short section of singletrack and put the hammer down on the false flats on the exit, to ensure the gap. Near the end of the same lap, I came up quickly on 2nd place who had just unfortunately flatted. The next few laps were more of the same, climb, climb, climb, climb, descend, climb, descend, climb. I managed to get caught at the end of the 6th lap by the eventual overall winner. I tailed his wheel through the singletrack and last sections of the course. He came out of the pits much faster than I did, I gave chase for as short bit, but settled back into my groove. Checking my watch, I begrudgingly noticed unless I fell asleep, I was gonna have to do an eighth lap.

Once I rolled around and kicked off for that 8th lap, I felt much better, till it started downpouring. The course turned slick as snot, but I held it upright and finished the lap in decent time. I had no one chasing as I was the last solo to cross in under 6 hours. Total I turned in 120k in 6:45 minutes for a 3rd place overall and 1st age group. The Superfly was phenomenal on the climbs and rocked the tight singletrack without any issues. I’m loving the bike more and more as I ride it.

Mark Hartman won his age group (30-39) and Suzanne won the womens overall.

Tonight is Farmall #2, and I’m looking forward to the next NYSERS at Plattekill in a few weeks, but first will be the Mohican 100.