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The Lake Orion High School Guided Activities Program runs a few mountain bike races each year on the trails and in the woods behind the school. I’d already packed my car with the single speed and riding clothes, when my friend Bob convinced me to give the races a go, I did. I thought the single speed would be a bit challenging, but the trail flowed nicely and there were only two places where I had to walk.
This was a relatively short, but nicely challenging course, winding through all manner of terrain on both the school grounds and a bit of Bald Mountain Recreation Area. There were a couple very tough hill climbs, tight / technical single track, bumpy grass lands, and fun and fast downhill stuff.
Before the race we were all given placards, with white being Beginner (like me), blue being the Sport class, and Yellow/Gold as Elite. We were also told that there would be periodic signs directing people to different routes based on the varying skill levels. Unfortunately, the first sign which said to turn left was in yellow/gold, so myself and another large group of people ignored it and went straight. It was only after we realized that what we were riding through was a bit more than one would likely route for a race that we backtracked. This was about 10 minutes out of our way, through a whole bunch of mud, and over some fallen trees.
Even with this extra detour I ended up coming in second (getting a rather nice little medal), out of at least three, but … well… I’m not sure how many people. There’s another one of these races next week, with a rain date of the following Tuesday, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it out for that as well. This was a nice, fun, well-run event that felt casual enough to be purely enjoyable, and I guess that’s how they typically go.
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