MBAA White Tank Whirlwind
February 8, 2014
Scott Thomas
White Tanks. Well for those in AZ this is in the far west
part of the Phoenix
metro valley and to be completely honest after racing it I won’t be making the
drive over there for just a Saturday ride.
It’s about a hour and 15 minute drive from my house.
So showing up there
Saturday morning once again I’m shocked by the amount of people that MBAA is
getting to come out to these short sprint style races, but I like it. So the same old same old. Check in.
Get my gear ready. Relax a
little. Chat with some other friends
racing.
As a little preface
to this course. I’ve never ridden it
before. Not 100% uncommon for me and I
spoke to several friends who either pre-rode the course or rode it for
fun. Not sure why the hell you would do
that though.
10:32am the race
starts. Always a scramble trying to get
good placement, but this course was nice as the first mile or so was nice
double-track. A little rocky, but not to
bad that you couldn’t pass.
Then we make a left
turn up to the technical section of the course.
The first lap (of two) this didn’t seem so bad. Really boulder rocky with a few drops. The first lap was extremely crowded.
Once out of that
mile and a half section we dump back onto some rollers before hitting the
switchback climb. The climb wasn’t
bad. I heard they did some trail work
the week before and smoothed out part of it.
It was a nice climb with no real technical side to it and then we
dropped into about a half mile section of some good twists and drops.
Wrapping up that
little downhill we are back on some single track just before the remaining 2
miles or so of double track that just rolls.
This area is good to make up ground if your able too. Wrapping up my second lap about a mile and a
half from the finish pro-rider Chloe Woodruff passed me. I somehow found some energy to try and keep
up with her. I didn’t do to bad and kept
her within about 100 yards or so.
So the one word
description of the race for me would be uneasy.
Not sure, but the technical sections put me on the edge. I still finished in the top 15, so not
complaining to much, but I have had much better. Old Pueblo is next.
