Enduro Style, Sweet Jesus!

So its been 8 years or so since I have done the Classic Bear Brook Mountain Bike Race and man do I remember these trails, sweet! After last weeks suffer fest with 10 plus days off the bike, I was a little more confident coming into the Bear Brook race. A week under my legs of riding and a 3 hour ride the day before, I was good to go.



My buddy, and boss actually, Scott Relihan and I made the trek up to Allenstown NH for an old school classic. I say old school because Scott and I met for one of my first ever mountain bike races in 1993 and we have been tight ever since. In fact, after my 10 years or so of racing full time, it was Scott who introduced me into this god awful career. Kidding actually, I am actually extremely grateful.



So off to Allenstown with Scooter Magooter to ride around and hopefully pull off a better result than last week. At registration there was rumor that one of the Pro men requested an additional lap be added to an already long race. That rider? None other than endurance guru himself Chris Gagnon from MTB mind. Chris is the gent that has ridden and reintroduced me to 24 hour racing. He is a 24 hour solo beast! Of course he wanted an epic race. Me, a little concerned with what my lack of training would produce.



Race goes like this; gun goes off and guys start sprinting off the line for position. I say to myself, why? I remember those days as a young pro and getting wrapped up in every start. Sure as hell two thirds of them came back and then WHACK! I made a move to front and got rid of most of the race except for a couple of veterans that know how to race. To my surprise up and coming 24 hour rider Peter Ostroski set the pace and held it, great ride. The always strong, and 24 hour team mate John Foley came up on me with 2 to go. I thought we would have a nice hard ride, obviously I wasn't riding strong enough for him and John road away, another great ride.



I pushed hard at the end, happy to finish third, and I am chipping away at my fitness. July and August should be good. Keep the rubber side down and I will catch up with you in a couple of weeks after the Pinnacle, another New England Classic.

Ciao for Now.

Matty O