by Manuel Prado Team Sho-Air / Rock N’ Road Cyclery.

Pacing yourself is a phrase many of us have heard many times before a race; it is hard, however, in a mountain bike race to pace yourself well. The start of a cross country race is probably the hardest part of it; once everybody settles into rhythm, then that is when pacing well comes into play. With my new PowerTap Disc Brake Hub, I was able to pace myself perfectly.

The Idyllwild Spring Challenge took place the first weekend of May in the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California. At 5500 feet all racers had to be a little careful on how they spent their energy. I decided to start a little slower and let the other riders set the pace. Up until mile 17 Chuck Jenkins from Cytomax-KHS had the lead by about 30 seconds. I was making sure that the gap did not grow until the point we hit the major climb of the day (15 minutes long with a steady 18% degree grade). That is where I knew that I could get the most out of my effort.

At the time I was riding with Trek-VW rider Dana Weber with Jenkins 30 seconds ahead of us; I rode as hard as I could to close the gap to 1st place, and by the time we got to the top of the climb, I was only 10 seconds back. Using my background as a BMX rider, I was able to close that gap during the most challenging part of the race: the final downhill was all singletrack. I knew that I had little room for making mistakes, so I rode fast but was also careful to avoid getting a flat or crashing.

Forty minutes to go, and I was on the lead with Dana Weber closing in on me at 10 seconds, and now Sean Donovan, Jenkins teammate also at 30 seconds. I knew that if I rode the last short little climbs as hard as possible, making sure I held 400+watts, I was going to increase my lead and take home 1st place along with the $1000 Pro prize purse. Knowing that I had paced myself well for the first 100 minutes of the race gave me confidence towards the end of the race where I knew that I was going to need every bit of energy.

By the time I crossed the finish line, the clock marked 2 hours and 33 minutes for the 30-mile race with over 5,600 feet of total elevation gain.

Thanks to my CycleOps PowerTap, I was able to pace myself and take home a hand-crafted rock trophy and $1000 along with the feeling of knowing that I was able to live the dream of winning such a fun event.