Stump Farm

Last Saturday was race number 2 of 4 races in 5 weeks for me. I did the 60 mile solo.

The course at Stump Farm is the polar opposite of Underdown. Underdown is almost constantly rough with 2,000 feet of climbing per 14 mile'ish lap, while Stumpfarm is smooth (except for 1.3 miles of new trail) and flowly with less than 2,000 feet of climbing for the whole 60 mile race. It was a beautiful sunny day in the mid 80's.

I knew going into the race that ss wasn't going to win. At least not me on a ss. There was far too much double track on which to lose time. After getting some recon from Scott, 2:1 was the call on gearing. So my goal was to average 13.5 mph for the race. Once again, my plan was to go out at my pace and not burn a match at the start.

Mike and Chad took off at the start and I quickly dropped back about 30 seconds off of them. However, once we got into the single track I made up some time and caught them. From there we worked together for the 1st lap. At that point I think there were 4 or 5 guys in front of us. Mike was geared so he did a lot of work on the flats for Chad and I since we were both on 2:1 ss.

Chad stopped after lap one to grab water and Mike and I kept going, however I told Chad I would see him in a bit and sure enough I did, about 1 mile into lap two. When he caught up Mike dropped off, he wasn't feeling it that day. Chad and I proceeded to work together for the next 4 laps.

And work together we did! We were slaying the single track and not doing too bad on the fire roads. We passed many a person as if they were stopped. Lap 4 was our slowest lap and it was my fault. I had a gas bubble I couldn't shake. Shortly after the start of lap 5 I finally found some relief and we picked up the pace again. We were a minute faster on lap 5 than on 4.

The last lap Chad fell off a little, I yelled back for him to get back on but he sort of dangled. I thought if I pushed the pace we would both go faster and just maybe we could catch somebody else. In the end I finished about 40 seconds ahead of Chad and in 3rd place. My final time was a 4:37:14 for about 64 miles. I averaged 14.1 mph! I also stopped for less than a minute during the whole ride compared to 20 minutes at Underdown. The two guys in front crushed it and finished about 15 minutes ahead of me. I have to say, it was great to be able to race with Chad for almost the whole race. It really made the race fly by.

Next up John Muir!