Specialized Florida State Championship series #1 + TT + E MTB.
The first round of the 2021 FSC kicked off back in it’s traditional location at Tom Brown park in Tallahassee after missing a year due to covid restrictions and it came a few weeks earlier than normal due to college football schedules that block out lodging opportunities, so yes we started the series in August (not normal) and yes it was hot but not unbearable, oh then there was a hurricane in the region (more on that later).
The Tallahassee Mountain Bike Association had the course in super shape and despite some afternoon rains it held up well with maximum traction for the racers (well almost some of the unlucky cat 3 Time Trial racers and the E Bike second lap got hit with a heavy shower) but all in all we got lucky with the weather considering there was hurricane Ida hitting New Orleans just a few hundred miles down the road.
Race action started with Saturday’s bonus Time trial and good turnout of 187 riders took to the 6.7 mile course for a one lap shot at grabbing some valuable series points and it was Bob McCarty narrowly taking the top spot by .35 of a second over Ryan Woodall (both are multiple time state champs and in the Women’s top spot it was Simone Berger (defending champ) taking a solid win.
Sunday the races started with a big turnout of youth racers and perfect course conditions setting us up for the 9:30 am yellow wave which saw some great battles in many classes and the elite men’s class again came down to Ryan Woodall and Bob McCarty with Ryan getting the nod this time and the series leaders jersey. In the women’s division Simone Berger once again repeated her performance from Saturday with another win and the Women’s leaders jersey.
Sunday was also the first round of the 1st annual Specialized E FSC race that was held at 3pm on the same course and national contender Nick Mackie took the top men’s spot while Kelly Lalima won the women’s E MTB class.
Thanks to all of the sponsors especially Specialized bicycles and Higher Ground bike shop in Tallahassee, next round is 9-12-21 in Lakeland.
