HongCheon Mountain Bike Race Report: 3rd Place 홍천며느리재대회후기 3등!

Last Sunday I got to race on my favorite mountain bike course in Korea.  Its my favorite because I won the first edition of the race overall in 2011.  Last year the course was made a bit longer though and its not quite as well suited to me as before.  Anyway there were 6 guys in the Top Category group racing with me and my goal was to get top 3 in my group.

The start went well and I was at the front of the group going into the first climb.  Then my old teammate Ji Haeng attacked and I decided to try to jump on his wheel.  This proved to be a bad idea though as I was only able to hang with him for about a minute before I blew up.  It took me a bit to recover and at that point I had been passed by a bunch of guys but I was still sitting 3^rd in my group.  I got on a guy from JiHaeng’s team’s wheel and drafted him over the next few miles of smooth rolling double track.  At this point the race was about half over when I noticed that Yong Su who was also in my group was right in front of me.  I bridged up to him dropping Hyuk Jin in the process and hit the next climb with YongSu. 

This same situation happened last year as well and on the last climb YongSu managed to drop me.  I was determined to put up more of a fight this time.  I couldn’t quite hold onto his wheel up the next climb though but I caught and passed him on the rocky descent into the final climb.  We hit the final climb together but unfortunately for me he had more in the tank than I thought and he attacked hard up the climb.  I fought to limit my losses but he was gone and I couldn’t catch him on the ensuing descent.  I still ended up 3^rd in my group though so I was pretty happy with the result.  This was the best I’ve ridden my mtb all year but unfortunately its going to be my last mountain bike race until September probably.  This weekend is my last race in Korea it’s the 5^th stop of the Korea Masters cycling tour and should be a good opportunity to score points toward the series ranking. 

지난주일요일 나 홍천며느리재자전거시합타고왔어요.  이코스 한국산악자전거코스중에 내가제일좋아해요 왜냐하면 2011년 여기서 전체일등했어요.  장년은 코스좀 변경했지만 좋아해요.  이번에 상급자탔어서 그냥 3등안에하고싶었어요.  출발하고 첫언덕에서 지행형 페이스 다다해봤지만 너무 힘들었어서 혁진형이랑 탔어요.  몇키로동안혁진형뒤에타고 리커버리했어요.  첫언덕내리고 용수형 봤어요 그래서 좀빨리타고 용수형이랑 2번째 언덕시작햇어요.  혀페이스 못다다했지만 다운힐에서 다시잡았어요.  마자막언덕같이시작했지만 용수형 너무 빨리탔어서 다시 못잡았어요 근데 상급자 3등했어서 기븐좋았어요 두디어이번시즌 산악자전거 좀잘탈수있었어요!  이번대회는 한국에 마지막 산악대회이였어요 9월부터 미국에 다시 산악자전거대회시작할거에요.  하지만 양양 MCT 남고있어요.  나 MCT 6차랑7차 못갈거에서 양양에서 포인트많이 받아봐야해요!