Race Report: The Moe does Super D

The entire MtnBikeRiders.com crew raced at the Southridge 17th Annual Challenge this weekend. Priscilla, Kim, Joe, Ner, Eric and Val raced XC, Kim and I raced Super D, Tony, Joe and RL raced Downhill. I was actually excited about racing Super D for the first time, since I had an idea on how steep the climbs were, I liked my odds of doing well on the race.

I made a few minor changes to the KHS Flagstaff 29er, I added the super comfortable Ergon Grips and I swapped the front tire to a Serfas Krest 9er for better traction:

We got shuttled to the water tank, then we were lined up and we were released 30 seconds apart. Right off the bat, we were welcomed by a short but steep uphill. The air quality was so bad that I felt my lungs burning right away. We then descended onto some loose singletrack. The trail had already been battered by the XC racers and it was not in the best of conditions. My choice of tires paid off, the Serfas Krest 9er hooked up very well and I was able to go downhill with some speed.

I was exceptionally happy with the Flagstaff 29er, most of the riders had 4 to 5 inch travel bikes, I was the only one with a Full Suspension 29er. As I stated on my review of this bike, the bike rides as if was a 5 inch travel bike except when you go uphill, the front tire never leaves the dirt, the opposite happens to me when I ride my KHS AM2000 or the KHS XCT 535.

I think that Super D is the type of race that suits me, short uphills and long downhills. My race featured only 219 feet of climbing and 531 feet of downhill, now that’s what I call a good pay off! Don’t get me wrong though, Super D is not easy, you have to go balls out from start to the end. Here’s my Heart Rate graph from the race:

I was riding over 170 bpm the entire race!

I ended up placing 8th on the beginners category, not too shabby considering that I was racing against racers WAY younger than me. I can say that I really enjoyed racing Super D, I was also lucky to have Kim as a Super D racer, she gave me the low down and she really encouraged me the entire time.

I want to thank the entire MtnBikeRiders.com crew for the encouragement, Ergon for the grips, HossMTB for the shorts, KHS Bicycles for letting me use the Flagstaff 29er, Serfas for the tires and sunglasses and Evomo for the super cool hoodie.

What’s next for The Moe? The SRC Winter Series baby! I already bought my SRC membership for next year and I’m looking forward to January 10th’s race!