Our neighbor to the south has more than just fried chicken and horses. It is also home to the Kentucky Point Series mountain bike race series. For me, KPS is a side show to our local DINO series. But, since the Barry Roubaix was not in the cards this year, I was looking for a tough race near the end of March. And the KPS delivered with their Cave Lake race in (or more appropriately, near) beautiful Morehead, KY. This was a 30 mile long Cat 2 Open race, which consisted of 2 laps on a mixed course, which included gravel road, some fire road, and single track. Word of warning...no photos from this race, at least none that I have found. So use your imagination. Or, you can watch the chaos with the Flyby feature on my Strava page for the race:
https://www.strava.com/activities/527676042
https://www.strava.com/activities/527676042
Aaron joined me for the trip south, and we arrived in Morehead in the waning hours of the evening before the race. We check into our hotel and then headed out to the course. Unfortunately, with light at a premium, we realized there would be no chance for a pre-ride. But we could drive part of the course. So off we went in Aaron's SUV up the first portion of the course which was a long gravel climb. Very long. Eventually the road took a hard left turn through some rocks....and continued on until it ended in a cul de sac, which was where the trail started. It was getting dark by now, so we turned back and navigated ourselves over a ridge line to Morehead itself for some dinner.
We chose Buffalo Wild Wings, along with the rest of the town. The place was jumping, with a nice mix of locals, out of towners, and at least two bachelorette parties. We sat down at the bar next to a gentleman who had already had too much to drink. He said he was from Lexington and he had come to Morehead because "the girls here are easy." No joke. After awhile, he sort of gave up and left. Apparently he was incorrect in his assessment of the women of Morehead, KY.
Anyway, back to the race. We woke up bright and early the next morning and got to the race venue. Problem was, there must have been some lack of communication with the guard at the gate to the campground where the registration was. He wouldn't' let us pass and said that someone better pay him for all the racers going through the the gate. We were then "detained" at a pull over spot near the gate along with several other racers... After a while, someone with the race arrived and we were able to proceed. After getting set up we decided to check out as much of the course as possible before the start gun.
As noted, the race started on a long gravel road section, with the start line being on an uphill. This was my third KPS race, and each has started on a climb. Not a flat stretch leading onto a climbs but actually on the hill. Anyway, the gravel road section was the first third of the race, followed by the single track and fire road second third, and then what appeared to be a screaming descent from the trail to the the main road through the park, which then lead back to the gravel climb. We decided to check out the steep final descent. Word was it could be a little dicey. We took off and immediately found a bit of mud, but once on the climb, things dried out. And boy was it a climb, keeping in mind that we would be going back down this back breaker of a hill. Keeping an eye on the clock, we decided to stop our climb before we reached the top. We stopped about 3/4 of the way up and headed back to the start/finish line.
So, we lined up at the base of the gravel climb, and off we went. Things were redlined immediately, and there were a few traffic issues. I was able to find this video from the start. Note the starting grade:
I made steady progress on the climb and the pack spread out. I lost contact with Aaron along this stretch with him dropping behind me, Eventually the course turned and ended in the cup de sac we had seen the night before. This led to the first part of the single track, which was very rocky along the ridge line. This section was short, but we then crossed a section of dirt double track and dropped into a longer section of single track called the "Fingers." Take a look at the Strava track and these areas are pretty apparent.
This trail was fun with some technical sections, although there was also a few long sections of brand new trail which was very rough and in the need of more tires. Along this stretch Aaron began to catch up with me, along with another rider. He was still behind me when we popped out onto the double track, and rode this along the ridge line for a few miles before getting into more single track for a faster descent. Aaron had passed me at this point and as we raced downhill, we pass through a intersection. The trail we were on went straight while there was another trail which branched off to left. Aaron was out of sight ahead of me at this point but another rider had just passed me. He went straight, and so did I. I glanced to to the left at the other trail but there was no markings, so I followed the other racer. A few minutes and a very long descent later, we came out on the main park road....but it was not where Aaron and I had scouted earlier before the race.
A sinking feeling hit me and I realized we had gone off course. Several other racers, including Aaron were out on the road and started to ride it back towards the start/finish. I wasn't sure how this would be scored so I instead turned around, along with the rider I followed, and started to go back up the hill I had just ridden down. And quite the hill it was....about a 350 foot climb. Along the way we collected quite a few more racers who had also gone straight at the intersection. No one was particularly thrilled with this detour, or with the lack of course markings, but at least they didn't have to ride all the way down the hill like I had.
Once back at the intersection I confirmed there were no markings. I also had to stop and tighten my front axle as it had come slightly loose during the last descent. With that done I bombed down the nasty descent Aaron and I had pre-ridden and crossed the time line to start my second lap. If only we had gone to the top of the climb during our pre-ride...we would have known which way to ride, even without the course markings, Oh well.
The course ran along the main park road and back to the start line. I gabbed a new bottle and then started the loop again. I was mostly alone, although the rider I had followed down the wrong trail was around here and there. Near the top of the climb I passed a rider with a flat tire. I took my mini pump off of my bike and handed it off to him. Hopefully it would allow him to get going again. If I needed, at least I knew he was somewhere behind me.
Going off course had left me uncertain of where I was in the field. As the gravel road ended, we were to skip the finger sections and stick to the forest road. I forgot that and bombed onto the first section of single track. As I popped back onto the forest road, there was the rider who I had followed off course, I had been ahead of him by several minutes, but now he had caught up. He said something about not having to do the trail sections and we rode on. The rest of the race was rather uneventful.
There was much discussion about the unmarked turn on the course, and it appeared almost half of the field had made the wrong turn. Aaron and I were well down in the standings for Cat 2 Open due to the wrong turn. However, some post game analysis and Strava Flyby showed that we would have likely been in the top 5 if not for the wrong turn. Aaron would have no doubt beat me down the final descent had we not missed the turn, but I think I would have reconnected with him on the main climb at the start of the first lap, and we would have kept ahead of the chasers.
Still all speculation aside, the wrong turn really screwed with things. There was no penalty for those who stuck to the road versus did climb back up to the wrong turn. Further, the rider listed as the winner for cat 2 open was 14 minutes ahead of second place. His time looked strange, so I checked it out on Strava Flyby. It appeared he had some sort of mechanical and was stopped for almost 30 minutes before starting again. He did two laps but came in behind everyone yet still was listed as the winner. I keep expecting the result to be updated but it never has been. Strange.
Anyway, Cave Lake turned into one hell of a training ride, but it was also a lot of fun, The course was a nice mixture of gravel, trail and double track. Despite the problems, my fitness felt good, and I enjoyed the race. Hopefully they will continue with this venue next year.
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