Donna Davis races Coyote Hill Classic

Not just a MTB race - three races in two days! The following is Donna's recap of last weekends two-day event - Nice job Donna!

From Donna Davis:
This MTB camp is situated in a Vermont setting surrounded by a trail network which includes miles of single track, mowed fields of double track and dirt roads. It is run by Tom Materson who also comes up with these challenging courses. Short track and XC: For these courses he took his lawn tracker out and started mowing, when he came across water, he built homemade bridges using planks or trees cut in half lengthwise with chicken wire over them for traction or on most occasions you peddled through the mud. When he lead you into the woods, be assured it was technical. Saw Jon Tarbox there, he said this entire place is really tough. All courses were changed from previous years.



Race 1 Short Track: Got there plenty early so I was the 1st to pre-ride it and my front tire was slipping out on the grass, which made me really nervous and cautious. (I need to figure out if there is a way to avoid that). The woods part was short but nuts, rocks strategically placed so if you managed to avoid one, there was another and don't forget the slippery big root and the tree. There were 14 of us including me and 2 cat 1 women. He said 20 mins + 3 laps, if you get lapped, don't worry, your last lap will be the winners last lap. This race was a mass start. You start out climbing around his yard, get on the dirt road, onto the grass that seemed drier by then, and try to go like heck. I saw the 2 laps to go sign and said, "omg, not sure I can do this" then when I came around again he said that's it, I said "thank you". I came in 1st (because I was the only cat 3 women there). Once it was over it didn't seem that tough, but doing it seemed like torture. Looking back on it now, this one was cake!

No rest for the wicked............

Race 2 (one hour later) 1.5 mile Hill Climb (think he meant to say "side of a mountain climb"): The start was in someone's dirt driveway across the dirt road, 1 minute between each rider. Single track, with switch backs, roots, rocks, sharp turns and thundering in the background, I tried to hurry up. I thought this wasn't that technical, others thought it was too technical. Made it to the top in 9+ mins, winner came in 4+. (1st again, because I was the only one).

Rest up for tomorrow's XC (6 miles......."oh come on, how bad can 6 miles be")

Race 3 XC: I started pre-riding what I thought was the course and got freaked out. Had to walk down part of it and then turned around. Then I was told it started in the opposite direction from yesterday's race, did part of that and felt better, but was told that other section is part of the race. Cat 3 race 9:30, there were alot of racers with 6 women. I was really nervous on the line, even thought of chickening out on this one. At that point I decided to stay in the back and play it safe, well, 2 others thought the same and I wasn't in the back. The 1st part was doable, then came that nasty section and I flew down it (2nd time's a charm) so I started to feel better and started ramping it up, but it was kinda late since there was only 1 person behind me. I managed to get up all the hills, walked a couple scary downhills, didn't want to get the shoes dirty so made it through all the mud pits, fell a few times and was grateful it was only 6 miles. Some cat 2 guys passed me that were pre-riding it and I heard them say "what is Tom doing to us"!! I Came in 5th, 5 mins behind 3rd or 4th.


When I was done with my race, it seemed like there were a couple/few hundred people there for the next races. Great turnout.

Looking back/Lessons learned: Never count on any mtb'ers option as to how technical a course is, you'll need to form your own opinion. Depending on your ability, likes and dislikes, it's all........well you know. So in my opinion, I think the 1st 2 races where not technical at all, just different. The last one was fun, very technical, grueling and never judge a book by it's cover, 6 miles was plenty for me!! Need to stay clipped in more, wasting too much time unclipped worried about not unclipping in time. Overall great races. A special thanks to Frank my weekend domestique/photographer, you are the best babe!!