Over the Top Trail Run/ Mountain Bike Ride at West Mountain

So, I’m behind on my blog posts, but it’s never too late to catch up, right? Back in August, I signed up for my first ever duathlon, a 5K trail run and 10k mountain bike ride at West Mountain in Queensbury.

image from West Mountain’s facebook page

I really had no idea what to expect from this race. I signed up for it with a few of our friends, and none of us got any emails or anything about the logisitics. We just knew it started at 10:00am at West Mountain Ski Resort. We got there at about 9:15, picked up our shirts and bibs and headed over to the starting line, which was at a different area than the main lodge where packet pickup/ the afterparty was located.

I set up my bike at the transition area (a first for me!) and got ready to run.

The run portion started off great. But soon, the hills began and I found myself walking a lot. But my only goal for this race to was to have fun (and finish it).

Run Time: 36:08.7
Pace: 11:39

Transition time: 2:04.2

I got on my bike and pedaled away. The first part of the bike course was on the same course as the run, which was weird. But then I found myself going up the mountain. I guess they don’t call it “Over the Top” for nothing.

There were some nice views at the top of West Mountain! But I was on my bike so my phone was in my pack.

Bike time: 1:01:33.4
MPH: 6.04 (I am SO SLOW at climbing on my mountain bike. So not efficient.)

Total Time: 1:39:46.4

There were 20 individuals in this race (some people were competing as teams) and my friend Aubrey was the 3rd fastest woman! I was the 3rd from last. At least I wasn’t last!

After we all finished, we loaded our bikes back up and drove back to the main lodge for the post-race party, where hamburgers and beer awaited.

Overall, I think this was a nice little race. The volunteers were friendly it it seemed to be organized well. The course was marked  well, too. I would do it again!