Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Ponderosa hill race

Race: Ponderosa (6.4k/900ft)
Time/Position: 28.54 (7th from 88 [2nd V50])
Great to be back racing after all the slow, sweaty plodding up big mountains. I have done this race a lot over the years, at least six or seven times, and always enjoy it: the rewards of the very long and fast descent are out of all proportion to the demands of the very short climb at the start! Pleasingly, I was less than 20 seconds down on my best time for the course, perhaps because the descent from the mast is now down a much broader track (at least initially). I also felt pretty good, however, and made the top of Cyrn y Brain in nine minutes precisely. Positions were sorted within a few hundred metres, and although I got close to the young lad in front I was never going to get past him on the descent, which goes on for quite a while and always feels very exciting and fast. Definitely drier than usual, but I still began to slow fairly dramatically on the final climb to the finish near the top of the Old Horseshoe Pass, which is always the crux of this race, legs like jelly after the manic descent.

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