The Dirty Moose, Roslyn, Washington
http://www.roundandround.com/Dirty_Moose/Dirty_Moose.htm

Before I moved to the Seattle area I had done a few mountain bike races at
the Catamount Family Center in Williston, Vermont. It was fun, exciting and
addicting. I have had a hard time finding races in the Seattle area until
the Dirty Moose. Roslyn is a 50 minute drive on the Cascades from
Snoqualmie so it was a perfect opportunity for me to try racing again.
Furthermore, it offered a great opportunity to nab some training for the MS
70k.

I'll be honest with you - I didn't expect to do all that well in the race.
The Dirty Moose is part of the WIM Mountain Bike Race Series (see
http://www.roundandround.com/2002_Race_Schedule.htm). As the Moose is the
7th race I figured I would get my butt wupped (and I did but that will come
later). Ergo, my goals were simple: 1) have fun, 2) finish the race and 3)
don't finish last.

The morning of the race brought showers, low clouds and 40 degrees west of
the mountains but I was confident that Eastern Washington would have nicer
weather. Greg Prior met up with my at the house and we took off at about
10:00ish for the race. Greg didn't compete but was nice enough to come
along to keep me company and shoot some film. After going over the pass the
weather, of course, cleared up. It was still a little cold and windy but
warmed up as the day progressed.

I entered the Sport class which meant that we would complete 3 laps of the
4.75 mile course (the web site says 4 miles but that's crap). The start was
pretty packed (45 riders in my class) and I immediately brought up the rear.
I was certainly surprised by the race pace. The race started on a fire road
which was first flat, then went into a short, steep climb and then flattened
out again before going into the single track climb. Fortunately, my last
place position was not for long as I dumped a few guys on the first hill. I
stayed with the "back pack" through the single track climb (about 800 feet
of vertical climbing) but my legs were not happy with me. In the future I
will need to warm up better. After nearly puking at the top it was a relief
to head through the downhill portion. The course was really fun (including
the climbing) and challenging. The downhill portion was a mix of tight
single track, quasi slick rock, sand dune drops and general fun. As you got
back towards the start area, groups of people were cheering you on.

I started feeling better on the next lap, passed a few people and caught up
with a guy named Troy who runs the Dirtworld website (www.dirtworld.com). I
had met Troy and the Dirtworld team the weekend before while checking out
the course. It was nice riding with someone but I ended up dropping him on
the Lap 2 downhill. Before the last climb I took a badly needed gel hit and
was able to finish the race strong. I finished 39th in my group (out of 45)
and 88th overall (out of 114) with a time of 1 hour, 47 minutes and 20.8
seconds. For results go to:
http://www.roundandround.com/Dirty_Moose/Moose_Results_XC.htm

All in all, it was an amazing experience. I was really proud of how I did
and had a real sense of accomplishment. I have certainly been bitten by the
racing bug and plan on doing the WIM series next year. I must admit,
however, I was a bit disappointed with my result. I met my goals but the
competitor in me knows I could have done much better. Still, what a great
time. I didn't finish last, I finished strong, I was the only one wearing a
Catamount jersey and only 3 women passed me! hahaha