Well, my annual trip to race at Mount Snow is in the books. This past weekend was the Root 66 Mount Snow Classic XC race. I’ve always liked racing Mount Snow, and as other years, I was looking forward to it. I had heard that many course improvements had been made and I thought that it was about time. Much of the race course is the same trails used in years past but when I arrived on Saturday to pre-ride, I did find quite a bit of trail work had been done. As far as “improvements”, all I can say is that I never thought Mount Snow could become roadie friendly. Much of the trail was turned into groomed 5 to 6 foot wide road…smooth dirt road. The course was also lengthened to about 6.1 miles with the first ~4 miles climbing. The remain ~2 miles remained mostly untouched. About 2 miles of washed out and eroded trail and dirt road that brings you to the start/finish. Overall, it was disappointing after hearing of the many improvements.

When race day came on Sunday, I was glad that we had a 1:30 start time. I didn’t have to get up early and be on my way at the crack of dawn. I arrive around noon, watched a little of the pro/cat 1 race and then started to get ready and warm up for the cat 2 race. Right from the start, it was fast. Too fast for me, so I just settled in and started to climb and climb and climb. Each of the two laps was slow going. The course was all ridable for me and I still enjoyed the technical descents, but my race pace just isn’t like it use to be. However, I did feel as though I probably could have gone out for another lap. I think I’m starting to lean toward more of the ultra-endurance racing…6 hr, 40 mile, 50 mile, etc…and much of my training reflects that. My final result for the Mount Snow Classic was 19th. Not even close to what I had hoped for, but no crashes and a great workout.