Would you pin it off the start 3 miles in on a windy hard packed dirt road? Would you float through deceptively soft sand pits? How about navigate weather damaged slickrock, following painted line/dots chasing some seriously fast mountain bikers?
Then you would be competing in Day 2 in Moab Rocks!!
The Klondike Trail system hosted today’s race and did not disappoint. The weather again was an uncharacteristically chilly mid 40’s for the start but heated up quickly for perfect racing. With the sun peeking out a bit more today, the racers were treated to awe-inspiring views of the snowcapped LaSal Mountains as well as endless layers of rock and sand formations just north of Moab.
The road start quickly strung out the field, followed by sandy double track and a zigzag climb up single track slick rock on the Baby Steps trail. Working north through the system of trails with ups, downs, lefts and rights, the racers topped out on the Alaskan trail with awesome ridge views and the longest descent of the day. Dino flow brought the racers back to the trailhead parking on the south side of the trail network.
In the open men’s division Geoff Kabush, Justin Lindine and Ben Sonntag finished about a minute apart with Geoff rocking a 1:47:59 on the day.
The women’s open field sorted out with Jena Greaser first in (2:10), Maghalie Rochette (2:11) and Lea Davison in third with a time of 2 hours 12 minutes. The racing was tight and hard fought to the end. Marlee Dixon, who won the stage yesterday finished 5 min and 32 seconds back and in 6th place, but is holding on for 3rd in the GC.
Cary Smith, Johnathan Davis and Benjamin Jones are leading the 3 Day Men 40+ category after two stages.
Wendy Lyall, Natalie Raborn and Alana Heise are holding the top 3 spots overall in the Women 40+ and for Mens 50 + top honors go to Charlie Hayes, David Donatoni and Mark Wallace.
Things are far from fully sorted as tomorrow’s final stage heads into the Magnificent 7 trail system takes the riders 29.7 miles and 3600 feet of elevation gain to some of the best views in Moab. The race will proceed up and over Gemini Bridges leading racers up Getaway and 7-up to the top of Bull Run for an amazing descent capped off with a final climb back up and over Gemini Bridges back to the finish area.
Here are full stage results for Day 2 as well as overall GC results following today.
