2009 Peanut Butter Festival MTB

I cannot tell a lie....I LOVE the annual Smucker's Peanut Butter Festival, New Bethlehem PA.
We have been to this every year since 2002, it was my first MTB Race date ever with JPOK, only my 2nd XC race ever, & my first experience of making a wrong turn! This race has had a slew of girls show up, including Tiff Kenny who holds the course record. So depending on the crowd, I've always managed to snag an overall 1st-3rd spot. This year the race was the third/last in the new Bike the Wilds Series too!

The race is in conjunction with a community festival, a 5K, and a parade, so good food is around, along with some cool craft sales to get your holiday shopping started, and of course Peanut Butter is available by the case!!! 18 miles of varied terrain await, most on private property which is really nice, and a few piles of cow chips!

This year as we line up, it's just myself, Nina W. (who is super duper training this year & not to be taken lightly), and XXXXXX. I know Nina is tough, and XXXXX is on a SS. SS can only mean two things, either super fast or not so fast. I am worried.

The road strech is better than previous years, thins us out a little. I really want to keep behind XXXX to see pace, but with the SS that won't work out. I have NO idea where Nina is at, but I get in a jumble at the first bottleneck and find myself cursing under my breath. I struggle a little to get going in the BMX course area, but then finally get a rhythm after that and feel better. Not until the first big climb ~30 min in do I see Nina ahead of me walking up the power line. I struggle to catch her & decide to pass. She catches me on the next downhill, and we enter some new singletrack together, something catches her pedal and I get a chance to get out of her sight. Now, for the rest of the day I see no signs of XXXX, I know she is behind me but never know how far. I plug thru some wet sections, and hit the final few miles and play cat and mouse with a friend who is setting a good pace, Spencer Clark, until he eventually pulls away, but it helped me to keep moving that last bit.

I come in first, followed only minutes by Nina, and XXXX is just XX minutes back.
Justin also had a good day, as he not only won, but he also set the new course record!!! He was happy about that.

Awards here are fun, on the stage and everyone gets their trophy/prizes, pictures taken, and the local paper is here to write a story too. I definitely always recommend the event to new racers or experienced!

Bike the Wilds: Nina gets first with 3 races completed, I get second due to 2 races completed.
See full results: XXXXXXX