I was impatiently waiting for the Sooner Stampede MTB race after the beating I took in the rocks at round 2 of the TDD. The Tulsa boys (Ray Hall and Jake Lasley) put it to me and I was ready to go at it on my home trail. To be fair, I gladly went out and rode the course with both of them. After all, they are two of my best buddies so it’s not like they had to twist my arm to get me to go ride with them. 
We arrived several hours early on Sunday to set up a tent and table to be well prepared for the first hot day of the season. Ryan again was the first of the family to race, with Aubrey going off after me again. Ryry had a really good race coming in second again. He’s learning to know when he races good but just gets beat. Rather than being upset about not winning, he’s happy with his race. I think he learning that he’s just so much smaller, and weaker in some areas because of his age(he is 10 racing up in 13-15). I keep trying to get him to be patient and wait a couple years for his body to catch up with his skill. Then we may all be in big trouble haha! It was another huge turnout for the Jr fields as well which is so good to see!
I actually got it together much earlier than the last race and got in a solid warm up. On top of the normal competition so far, Brandon Melott was also racing and I know if there’s someone that can match my speed and flow on this course, it’s him. We both have more miles in on this trail system than we can count. So I knew the start would be important and I would need to be ready to go full gas, so that warm up was pretty important on this day.
I hit my pedal perfect on the start and put in a big effort, I did not want to be anywhere but first into the single track. Brandon second and Ray was third the first time I glanced back to check. I rolled pretty smooth trying to keep the pace high but still recover a bit from the start effort. It was going to be a very strategic race, I had to find a way to beat them. I wasn’t going to cruise away.
This year I’ve put a lot of effort into improving all the small things. Cornering smoother, working on my bike fit and position, working on strengthening my body to be able to handle the abuse from MTB racing, etc. It all paid off because it’s those fractions of seconds here and there that win races like this. You have to take little bits of time where you can. These guys are all very fit, and extremely good bike handlers. 
It was early on I decided on my game plan to win. I decided to punch it, hard, anytime we went uphill. My hope was to catch them off guard and get away. If it didn’t work I was going to be in trouble as I was going all in, the whole first lap. It took a long time to break free, they were hanging right around 10-15 seconds, I had some doubts but stuck to the plan. Towards the end of the lap I knew I was getting away. Through start/finish on lap 1 there was no one in sight so I knew I had a decent gap. It worked! BUT, with the heat there was still the big question of actually maintaining that lead to the end. Second lap was good, (passed Aubrey through the finish line area and she had a good lead in her race, gave her some encouragement and went on) last lap, the heat was getting me some. I was having some stomach cramps and feeling not so good. I had a few spots to watch and saw no one coming so I was easing up little by little to try and not be completely trashed for the rest of the day. I held on and I was pretty much over it by the finish line. I was hot and felt like crap! I think everyone did though.
Aubrey came in a bit after I did and won her race by a decent margin, woohoo!!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much excitement and put so much prep into racing the Tour de Dirt mountain bike series. The competition is the real deal this year and it is awesome! To have some of, if not the best in our region to battle with and not have to travel is a promising thing for Oklahoma racing. We’ve already reached those levels on the road and in Cyclocross so it’s good to see it on the trails as well. I also believe it was close to, if not a record number of racers for the series! So a great job is being done by the series and race promoters. Coming up this Sunday is my first Ouachita Challenge in a few years. Hoping for a decent ride there as it will be my only good test before marathon Nats in May. After that I guess I’ll reluctantly go to Medicine Park and take my thrashing. I am NOT excited about that race.
Chris drummond 