Yesterday, the Missouri State Mountain Bike Championship was held at Castlewood with temperatures in the low 90's. We got to Castlewood about 8:50 and got registered. As I was starting my warm-up, I rode off the road and onto the race course in the grass. The grass was still wet with dew, I hit a wet root, and crashed. I was fine, but I had flatted my front tire. I thought tubeless weren't supposed to flat; I ran back to the car and changed my flat. After the crash and flat tire were fixed, it was 9:30. I took up and rode up Keifer Creek Road and came back on the Lone Wolf Trail in the creek valley. A little after 10, the five Juniors took off. I was the second rider into the singletrack. On the first part of the Grotpeter climb, I passed the other Junior ahead of me when he tried to ride over a log instead of around it. I kept a fast pace up the climb and passed about four Beginners before getting to Rollercoaster. After a little bit on Rollercoaster, I came up to five racers going slower than I wanted. The rider in front of me didn't want to let me pass him so I had to ride Rollercoaster pretty slow. After we got on the wide part of Grotpeter, I passed about four people before Mountain Ridge. I was stuck behind the rider who wouldn't let me pass him for the ride down mountain ridge. I passed about five people on the trail in the creek valley, before the creek crossing including the rider who didn't want me to pass. I rode across the creek and back throug the bottomlands to complete the 5.25 mile lap in about 28 minutes. I was first in my category and won a CO2 Inflation Kit and a State Champion Jersey.
On June 1, I raced in the C Race at Tuesday Night Worlds. This was my first time racing at Cardondelet and didn't really know what do expect. I felt really good and stayed with the lead pack for the whole 25 minutes, but didn't stay with a breakway that happened with three laps left. It was a lot of fun, I averaged 23 mph, felt really good, but there are two things I need to work on. One, I never took a drink, and two, I always lost a lot of speed on the tight corner.
May 22 was the last Art/ Nature Field Trip of the year. Four times a year, the librarian and art teacher from North lead a group of about 20 kids to scenic natural areas around Missouri. Past destinations have been Hawn State Park, Klondike, Pickle Springs, Citygarden, Rocheport and many other spots. Last weekend, we headed south to Taum Sauk Mountain and Elepant Rocks State Parks. First, we spent an hour scrambling around the warm, pink granite boulders of Elephant Rocks. Then, we drove to Taum Sauk and ate lunch on the highest point in Missouri. After lunch, we hiked the three mile loop to Mina Sauk Falls. The glade views were awesome as usual and the waterfall was really flowing with all the recent rain.
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AuthorMy name is Ben. I love to read, hike, backpack, mountain bike, rock climb, and mountain bike race. Since there are so many great hikes in Missouri, I decided to make a website to describe them. The Mountain BikeI ride a 2010 Specialized Rockhopper Expert 29er. I've upgraded all the original parts, went 1x9 and dropped 5lbs from the stock bike.
My Road BikeI have Willier Izoard for road riding and racing.
My CX BikeI ride a 2010 Specialized Tricross
2010 Race ResultsRiver Trails Mountain Bike Challenge (Kansas)
1st Junior 15-18 Tilles Park Crit 5th Juniors 10-18 Delmarvelous Crit 5th Juniors 15-18 Greensfelder Challenge 1st Juniors 15-18 Rhett's Run 2nd Juniors 15-18 2009 Mtb. Race Results
ICCC Castlewood Race 5th Beginner 19 and under Greensfelder Classic 5th Beginner 19 and under Burning at the Bluff 3rd in Burnin Virgins Category Archives
January 2012
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