As fall approached it was time for the annual pilgrimage to New Bethlehem PA for the Peanut Butter Festival Mountain Bike Race. This is a pretty small event but it's fun and it was one of the first races I ever did and so I always try to go back. It's called the Peanut Butter race because New Bethlehem is the location of the Smucker's plant that makes their awesome peanut butter. Some people think it's called that because when it rains the mud is like peanut butter.
The weather the day of the race was almost perfect. But the weather a few days prior to the race was another story. It rained a lot on Thursday and Friday but even with that there was over a hundred racers... a new record!! Knowing that it gets muddy I decided to race my Single Speed hoping that it would be better in the mud.
The start is about a half mile on a blacktop road before you hit some trails. I did everything I could to get a good start and was about 5th going into the woods. Then about 10 minutes into the race Sam Morrison, Shane Gouldthread, and I managed to get a small gap of the rest of the field. The three of us stayed together for quite a while. After about 45 minutes Sam and I pulled away from Shane. To my surprise, the course really didn't seem muddy at all like in the past, just wet and slippery. So the Single Speed was more of a disadvantage than an advantage. With about 3 miles to go Sam passed me on a short road section and I never caught back up to him. I managed to hold Shane off and finished second.
Ruth really likes this race a lot because it was her very first mountain bike race. She's won it in the past and had a good race today but finished third. I'd like to say thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors for the great time. You can check out the http://www.smileymiles.com/for all the results.
Justin
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