MORCS Finale

The final race of the Mississippi Off-Road Cycling Series was a blast! Three other members of the Ole Miss Cycling team and I crammed in my little Tacoma and headed to Ridgeland for the weekend. It was one of the few times I've ever needed a double cab, but we made it work.

We arrived in Ridgeland Friday night and decided to take a tour of Jackson in one of the guy's parent's Geo Tracker, with the top down of course. We were cruising around when we stumbled upon Jacktoberfest - a music festival with lots of beer vendors. What was really amazing about it was the crowd. It was a stylish, urban crowd mostly between ages 25 - 35, and no one was sloppy drunk. (I should note that the night was young, and the beer was expensive.) It didn't feel like Mississippi. I liked it.

Saturday, we pre-rode the course, watched the Super D, and a couple of us participated in the Cross Country Eliminator, XCE, which was a short race of four participants where the top two advanced to the next round. Cat 2 put on a good competition, but Cat 1 was a shut out. After getting dropped in the first quarter mile, there was no reason to keep sprinting another mile. It was a fun idea though.

On the upside, I was surprised to see part of the Mulberry Gap crew setting up a booth and doing some advertising. It made me miss those North Georgia trails and the whole summer of 2012 for that matter. I'm trying to talk the cycling team into a trip out there.

Sunday was the main event. I had some tough competition in a field of 10. I gave it my all right from the start. I think I was 5th into the woods. 1st and 2nd shot off quickly, but I hung with 3rd and 4th for a while. I knew I was faster than 4th uphill but the downhills put a gap between us. I attempted a pass once but he sprinted to block me. I ended up passing them both when they took a wrong turn at a poorly marked intersection. I got passed and then dropped. I might've held that position if it weren't for a cramp in my side.

I backed off the pace a little to recover and got passed a few times. This all happened in the first lap. For the second and third laps, I settled into a fast but comfortable pace. I even took a beer hand-up after a rocky switchback. I felt great!

I wound up in 7th out of 10 including one DNF. I was 11 minutes behind 1st and 5 minutes behind 2nd. I think with some good training this winter I can make up that difference. My new job should provide some good strength training; tomorrow is my first day driving for Rebel Rickshaw!