Colby Moeller_GT_XC: Flagstaff Finale

The last race of the Arizona Series was this past Saturday up in Flagstaff, AZ. Great riding up there at 7,000 feet. Up there being the operative word here. The course was on the Dry Lake Hills and Ft. Valley Trail systems, in the Coconino National Forest. This is easily the best race course of the entire series. Just fantastic riding and super fun. Technical descents, long climbs, twisty single track, it had it all.

The race started at an hour early at 10:30 AM to avoid the expected heat, but it was cool around 70, unlike in years past. It was still the right decision with what the course had to offer. I got the GT tent set up at the entrance to the venue next to the kids race course. Great location:

I was really hoping for a top 5 for the last race of the series. I positioned myself on the front line before the start and felt pretty decent. I had felt horrible the whole week before, so this was a relief. Once we got started I was able to sprint into the lead which I know would be short lived. It was an uphill start into the wind, so others were happy to let me lead. Then once it turned away from the wind I was swarmed and passed by 3 people before the first single track that lead to a rock desecent then a slight uphill to an even longer uphill. After the single track there was a fire road climb. I'm unsure of the distance, but it was about 45 minutes of climbing at that point in and out of the sun. Even thought it was cool, I was sweating pretty heavily. I felt descent, but couldn't bridge up to those ahead of me. Unfortunatley everyone wanted top 5 this race. After the climb there was long off camber descent with big drops. The Marathon Carbon ate it up with ease. Man that bike just rips descents. I was able to pass the guy ahead of me, and make up a place, but there was another hour of racing to come. There were more climbs and more descents, but I never made contact with the leaders again. I actually started to feel strong toward the end, but I didn't have enought left to make to the top five. I had to settle for 10th. A bit of a disappointment, but I guess that's racing. I did the best I could, and that is how it shook out. I need to find some more long climbs to train on to prepare for some more high altitude races later this season.