Playing catch up here...
After the embarrasment that was my mechanical situation at Night Weasels, I put in the sort of effort to get my gear ready that I should have 4 weeks ago. I taped and glued some previously loved file treads (I effin love file treads), shipped the tyres that I rolled at Sucker Brook to Tire Alert to get new base tape, and glued up a brand new pair of Fangos using copious amounts of glue.
I've got this tendancy to try and use things up before I replace them, not wanting to start in on the replacement item until I was sure that the old stuff was spent. This kept me on the fence for a two weeks about what to do with with those rolled tyres... I knew they needed base tape and didn't want to tap into the new ones just yet, but it was going to take time to get those back from Florida... Finally I just decided to move on to the new tubbies and hold the old ones as back up.
One problem with the file treads: the stumpy little valve barely stuck through the rim, too short to get a pump on. I needed valve extenders and actually stopped at the LBS on the way home from the Weasel to pick some up.
All pumped up (pun!) about rolling tubbies again I staged in the 3rd row based on my non-existant VERGE points in this non-VERGE race. Huh? (Side note - PVD is a great course but the poor PR job that they do will be it's downfall) At the gun, I notice that the rear wheel is soft with the first pedal stroke. Ya gotta be kiddin' me...
After two turns it was almost completely flat. I called for friend John Menard (over the course tape thing by now) to grab my wheel in the pit, and I continued past. In hindsight, I should have ducked in a half lap into the race, but that's how Night Weasels went down, and just wanted to race a bit. Brant actually said he was sorry that this kept happening to me. What a pal.
After 3/4 of a lap I pitted and got a quick change to get back into the action but this time I was DFL. Working back up through the field I caught G-Ride at the start of lap 3, pulled him along for 3 turns, then realized that he had stacked it up before we reached the beer garden. I caught Brant who had flatted as well, and saw Bill Shattuck and Keith Gauvin walking their bikes too. The course was unusually unkind this day.
I saw JT Ferraro and Wade Summers in the group ahead, but they were racing eachother and I was just time trialing. Translation: the gap was coming down until one to go, when the extra motivation to win the group kicks in and they began to pull away. I rolled in for 25th and another bad day - results wise.
There was a bouncy tent thing... the kids loved that.
Apres race I saw that the POS valve extender I got at Trek Stop had been knocked cock-eyed and let all the air out. Not sure if it happened as the pump was coming off it or it just got bumped, but the thing wasn't going to cut it. Fortunately Ge Willi had some proper extenders and he hooked me up for day 2.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Night Weasels: 10.6.10
I recognized that getting throug Gloucester weekend on clincher tyres (cool way of writing tires.... look for colour coming up) was just dumb luck.
My luck would run out at Night Weasels.
This mid-week event is a sister race to the Ice Weasels, two races organized by internet inventor and defacto USAC rankings coordinator Colin. Being on a weeknight (and perhaps more importantly being a Weasels event) guaranteed a "younger" crowd and pulling into the parking lot confirmed those suspicions. Lots of small cars and body art, not to many grey hairs.
The challenge of evening races in October of course is the availablity of light, but Colin along with fellow race promoters Chip and Linnea (no linky... she's got to live with Reuter, that's enough second hand technology exposure) semi-correctly identified Ski Ward in Shrewsbury MA as an appropriate illuminated venue. True, Ski Ward does have lights for night skiing, but without the reflective qualities of a nice base of white snow, the modest lighting at Ski Ward struggled to reach all corners of the course. It wasn't picth black, but there were definately parts of the course that required more reliance on faith and feel than vision. This isn't a knock on the venue feeling your way around the course introduced an element of suprise and excitement that would have otherwise been absent.
Being a working dude I couldn't stay for the last race of the night and had to sandbag the 3 race. Start/number order was determined by crossresults.com points, so despite poor performances in two of the first three races of the year, the points I got from racing some of the best Master's in the country towards the end of last year earned me the top spot in the field. No pressure or anything.
At the whistle the photags along the starting straight are snapping photos, blinding us in the process. Through three turns I was 3rd or 4th, then the climbing started. Ski Ward is no great mountain, but riding up anything that has been deemed appropriate for anyone to ski down is a challenge for this flatlander. I slogged up the slope, losing a spot or two but watching many others struggle with me. My superior bike handling skills would allow me to make up these spots on the descent, right?
Yup... the slick corners and messy parcours were just the trick to get me back up to third wheel, and approaching the pit I was railing the corners, really leaning into the turns as my sweet tubulars were providing just enough give to keep me hooked up.
That's when I realized that I wasn't running tubulars... and that "give" was my rear wheel going flat a half lap into the race.
Into the pits and the disgust was high... palpable even. With no urgency I asked for a wheel and was told there was none. Sounded good to me. Then a happy Pedro's dude (I hate to say it... not sure why that is... but Pedro's has really stepped it up this year, if not in actual support activity but certainly in visibility) declared that he had a wheel for me. Great, semi-quick change and I'm back (literally) into the field.
I spent time behind teammate John Menard, then dispatched him into the tape. He wasn't thrilled with that move and apparently he wanted a kiss on the cheek first, maybe next time.... or just htfu. One of those two.
Just kidding John!
The rest of the race was spent clawing back through the field, I passed a ton of guys because there was a lot of lapped traffic. There was abrand new set of FMBs awaiting the 13th place finisher, and I figured I was close. The course got easier as it got darker, the sometime confusing dusk light let the venue's lanterns do their thing. The climbing got easier as well, the rain had stopped and the course firmed up a good bit. Most everyone was wearing the same kit by the end of the race: a red, yellow or blue on one side and a nice brown colour down the other (from crashing you see) however I managed to keep it upright the entire race.
I came in 14th and missed the tires by 6 seconds. Arghh!!!
Great scene there at Ski Ward. I wonder if the owner knew what it would be like to have 250 pbr drinking bike racers descend on his place.
Up next: Providence. Sneak peak: tire problems continue and finally a good day.
My luck would run out at Night Weasels.
This mid-week event is a sister race to the Ice Weasels, two races organized by internet inventor and defacto USAC rankings coordinator Colin. Being on a weeknight (and perhaps more importantly being a Weasels event) guaranteed a "younger" crowd and pulling into the parking lot confirmed those suspicions. Lots of small cars and body art, not to many grey hairs.
The challenge of evening races in October of course is the availablity of light, but Colin along with fellow race promoters Chip and Linnea (no linky... she's got to live with Reuter, that's enough second hand technology exposure) semi-correctly identified Ski Ward in Shrewsbury MA as an appropriate illuminated venue. True, Ski Ward does have lights for night skiing, but without the reflective qualities of a nice base of white snow, the modest lighting at Ski Ward struggled to reach all corners of the course. It wasn't picth black, but there were definately parts of the course that required more reliance on faith and feel than vision. This isn't a knock on the venue feeling your way around the course introduced an element of suprise and excitement that would have otherwise been absent.
Being a working dude I couldn't stay for the last race of the night and had to sandbag the 3 race. Start/number order was determined by crossresults.com points, so despite poor performances in two of the first three races of the year, the points I got from racing some of the best Master's in the country towards the end of last year earned me the top spot in the field. No pressure or anything.
At the whistle the photags along the starting straight are snapping photos, blinding us in the process. Through three turns I was 3rd or 4th, then the climbing started. Ski Ward is no great mountain, but riding up anything that has been deemed appropriate for anyone to ski down is a challenge for this flatlander. I slogged up the slope, losing a spot or two but watching many others struggle with me. My superior bike handling skills would allow me to make up these spots on the descent, right?
Yup... the slick corners and messy parcours were just the trick to get me back up to third wheel, and approaching the pit I was railing the corners, really leaning into the turns as my sweet tubulars were providing just enough give to keep me hooked up.
That's when I realized that I wasn't running tubulars... and that "give" was my rear wheel going flat a half lap into the race.
Into the pits and the disgust was high... palpable even. With no urgency I asked for a wheel and was told there was none. Sounded good to me. Then a happy Pedro's dude (I hate to say it... not sure why that is... but Pedro's has really stepped it up this year, if not in actual support activity but certainly in visibility) declared that he had a wheel for me. Great, semi-quick change and I'm back (literally) into the field.
I spent time behind teammate John Menard, then dispatched him into the tape. He wasn't thrilled with that move and apparently he wanted a kiss on the cheek first, maybe next time.... or just htfu. One of those two.
Just kidding John!
The rest of the race was spent clawing back through the field, I passed a ton of guys because there was a lot of lapped traffic. There was abrand new set of FMBs awaiting the 13th place finisher, and I figured I was close. The course got easier as it got darker, the sometime confusing dusk light let the venue's lanterns do their thing. The climbing got easier as well, the rain had stopped and the course firmed up a good bit. Most everyone was wearing the same kit by the end of the race: a red, yellow or blue on one side and a nice brown colour down the other (from crashing you see) however I managed to keep it upright the entire race.
I came in 14th and missed the tires by 6 seconds. Arghh!!!
Great scene there at Ski Ward. I wonder if the owner knew what it would be like to have 250 pbr drinking bike racers descend on his place.
Up next: Providence. Sneak peak: tire problems continue and finally a good day.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Gloucester Weekend: 10.2 & 10.3.10
Two fer one here, as I am pathetically behind in race reports. Let's get right to it....
I'm so busy/indeisive these days that after rolling a tubular at SBC I arrived at Gloucester with 4 sets of tubular wheels and 8 tubular tires.... all sitting in my basement. Fortunately, tires issues did not factor into the racing Glouceseter weekend, but it would have been nice to just ride and not worry constantly about flatting the one set of clinchers that I brought with me.
Note to self: move "skake down the cross rig" up the calendar about 4 weeks for 2011.
Day 1: Got in a decent warmup and began to circle the course as they called us to staging. Starting position is so important that Gloucester adopted crossresults.com points to stage all non-UCI (read amateur) racers. It is clearly the most accurate ranking system on the planet, right guys? As I'm approaching the staging area, what I hear and what I see are not computing. My ears hear "second call to staging" but right in front of me I can see that there is already 6 rows full of racers. Wait for me! Wait for me!!!
Shit! cr.com points had me about 24th... 3rd row... and by the time I got there I was in the 7th row! While the rankings are super fair, they used to be just for fun. Now that big races are staging by them, it's effin stressful. I suck bad enough and don't need any help cementing my mediocrity.
So after suffering with cold sweats for 5 minutes the whistle goes and I make a JAILBREAK move up the left hand side and into the first right hander. A bit of bumping and some extra confidence and two turns later I'm right about up to where I was supposed to be. Sweet! It always works itself out you see.
Then the real racing starts, and I start getting passed left and right. I see Peter Sullivan, Sheldon Miller and Jon Bernard coming. Awesome! These are the guys I raced with or in front of last year! I'll just stick with them! Right! right? They rode through me like shit through a goose. I finally settled in with Aaron Millette and Don Snoop, both of whom are super smooth and really showed me some great lines around the technical Day 1 course. I didn't feel great until the last two laps, but still didn't have enough to shut down any gaps and rolled in 25th.
Day 2: Uphill start on day 2 and I was blocked from the gun. I couldn't move my legs for the life of me. Every pedal stroke hurt... not was hard, but actually hurt... for the first three laps. I lost 4 spots everytime through the start finish hill on those first three laps, there was no where to hide as the wind was right in our face. Finally with 2 to go the pain went away, but the damage was done. I got away from Brant Hornberger but couldn't bring back Kevin Buckley and finished 37th. The results are packed with guys I've never heard of before, all of whom seem to be riding up in the top 20. The effect of this influx of talent is that I'm getting pushed down in the placing.
It sucks getting old.
The tailgating was some of the best to date and Charlie did great in the kids race, racing up in the 9-10 field despite being 8 yrs old. I'm not one of those psycho loser parents who brags that his kid can wipe his fanny 2 days before the average kid can - well, sure I am - but my point with putting him in the older age group is that I kind of wanted him to feel that he could still have fun when there was no chance he could win... just like I do every race. Anyway, afterwards he told me that the best part of the race was the beginning, where all the kids were racing towards that first turn and they were bumping into eachother. Gotta love that.
I'm so busy/indeisive these days that after rolling a tubular at SBC I arrived at Gloucester with 4 sets of tubular wheels and 8 tubular tires.... all sitting in my basement. Fortunately, tires issues did not factor into the racing Glouceseter weekend, but it would have been nice to just ride and not worry constantly about flatting the one set of clinchers that I brought with me.
Note to self: move "skake down the cross rig" up the calendar about 4 weeks for 2011.
Day 1: Got in a decent warmup and began to circle the course as they called us to staging. Starting position is so important that Gloucester adopted crossresults.com points to stage all non-UCI (read amateur) racers. It is clearly the most accurate ranking system on the planet, right guys? As I'm approaching the staging area, what I hear and what I see are not computing. My ears hear "second call to staging" but right in front of me I can see that there is already 6 rows full of racers. Wait for me! Wait for me!!!
Shit! cr.com points had me about 24th... 3rd row... and by the time I got there I was in the 7th row! While the rankings are super fair, they used to be just for fun. Now that big races are staging by them, it's effin stressful. I suck bad enough and don't need any help cementing my mediocrity.
So after suffering with cold sweats for 5 minutes the whistle goes and I make a JAILBREAK move up the left hand side and into the first right hander. A bit of bumping and some extra confidence and two turns later I'm right about up to where I was supposed to be. Sweet! It always works itself out you see.
Then the real racing starts, and I start getting passed left and right. I see Peter Sullivan, Sheldon Miller and Jon Bernard coming. Awesome! These are the guys I raced with or in front of last year! I'll just stick with them! Right! right? They rode through me like shit through a goose. I finally settled in with Aaron Millette and Don Snoop, both of whom are super smooth and really showed me some great lines around the technical Day 1 course. I didn't feel great until the last two laps, but still didn't have enough to shut down any gaps and rolled in 25th.
Day 2: Uphill start on day 2 and I was blocked from the gun. I couldn't move my legs for the life of me. Every pedal stroke hurt... not was hard, but actually hurt... for the first three laps. I lost 4 spots everytime through the start finish hill on those first three laps, there was no where to hide as the wind was right in our face. Finally with 2 to go the pain went away, but the damage was done. I got away from Brant Hornberger but couldn't bring back Kevin Buckley and finished 37th. The results are packed with guys I've never heard of before, all of whom seem to be riding up in the top 20. The effect of this influx of talent is that I'm getting pushed down in the placing.
It sucks getting old.
The tailgating was some of the best to date and Charlie did great in the kids race, racing up in the 9-10 field despite being 8 yrs old. I'm not one of those psycho loser parents who brags that his kid can wipe his fanny 2 days before the average kid can - well, sure I am - but my point with putting him in the older age group is that I kind of wanted him to feel that he could still have fun when there was no chance he could win... just like I do every race. Anyway, afterwards he told me that the best part of the race was the beginning, where all the kids were racing towards that first turn and they were bumping into eachother. Gotta love that.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Sucker Brook: 9.26.10
Gloucester has already happened, and I will take a break from composing that masterpeice of a race report to post about my first race of the season at SBC.
I'm beginning to wonder if it ever rains in Auburn NH. SBC is always the dryest course on the schedule, and this year was no exception. Riding across that field and the formerly wooded jeep trail was like being in the front seat of a Conastoga Wagon hurtling across the plains and praries of the ol' West. Save the buffalo and the siloutte of two socks on the horizon, it was like being on the set of Dances with Wolves.
I had just finished glueing up some tubular tires the week before the race, and was nervously searching for Jerry before the start to see if he had some pedals I could buy. Mine were not doing such a good job of holding my feet in you see. With 5 minutes to spare I bought and installed some used Time ATACs and headed to the start, where 50+ master's racers were already staged. Yay!
There was a split between the 35s and 45s, so I was only 3rd row, but would have rather been further up. The first lap was uneventful, I tried not to race too hard, but damn if my heart rate wasn't pegged about 20 seconds into it. Backing off just 5% will shoot your a$$ straight out the back. You can throttle down maybe 2% and still maintain contact, but you have to be smooth and perfect in everyspot on the course if you're going to pull that off. At least that's how it is for me.
Beginning with lap two I joined my old pal Brant H and we once again tried to hook up the two man time trial. Matt Theodore caught us half way through that lap, and in actuality I thought that we hadn't been going hard enough.
I'm pretty sure that I have forgotten how to suffer. Not so much in the race: that is inevitable if you're going to be at all competetive.. but more in training. If you're not willing to really get into the hurt during training, the maximun race effort isn't going to be that great.
So after playing grab-a$$ for a lap Theodore joins us and promptly rides straight through. Brant and I know enough about racing to jump on that wheel and ride it as far as possible, and Matt dragged us up to Paul Curly, which was nice. We spent a half lap trading pulls with Paul when I rolled my rear tubular remounting on the off-camber section after the sand pit. Balls.
After flailing with that for a bit I got it back on and rode to the pit for the spare. I rejoined the circus about 13 spots behind where I had been (Curly ended up 9th) and fought out the rest of the race with Wayne Cunningham and some other guy that I ended up gapping in the sand on the last lap.
It was a good start to the season though I should have taken the DNF as my crossresults.com points are not totally effed.
Gloucester next. Preview: I definately have forgotten how to train for cyclocross.
I'm beginning to wonder if it ever rains in Auburn NH. SBC is always the dryest course on the schedule, and this year was no exception. Riding across that field and the formerly wooded jeep trail was like being in the front seat of a Conastoga Wagon hurtling across the plains and praries of the ol' West. Save the buffalo and the siloutte of two socks on the horizon, it was like being on the set of Dances with Wolves.
I had just finished glueing up some tubular tires the week before the race, and was nervously searching for Jerry before the start to see if he had some pedals I could buy. Mine were not doing such a good job of holding my feet in you see. With 5 minutes to spare I bought and installed some used Time ATACs and headed to the start, where 50+ master's racers were already staged. Yay!
There was a split between the 35s and 45s, so I was only 3rd row, but would have rather been further up. The first lap was uneventful, I tried not to race too hard, but damn if my heart rate wasn't pegged about 20 seconds into it. Backing off just 5% will shoot your a$$ straight out the back. You can throttle down maybe 2% and still maintain contact, but you have to be smooth and perfect in everyspot on the course if you're going to pull that off. At least that's how it is for me.
Beginning with lap two I joined my old pal Brant H and we once again tried to hook up the two man time trial. Matt Theodore caught us half way through that lap, and in actuality I thought that we hadn't been going hard enough.
I'm pretty sure that I have forgotten how to suffer. Not so much in the race: that is inevitable if you're going to be at all competetive.. but more in training. If you're not willing to really get into the hurt during training, the maximun race effort isn't going to be that great.
So after playing grab-a$$ for a lap Theodore joins us and promptly rides straight through. Brant and I know enough about racing to jump on that wheel and ride it as far as possible, and Matt dragged us up to Paul Curly, which was nice. We spent a half lap trading pulls with Paul when I rolled my rear tubular remounting on the off-camber section after the sand pit. Balls.
After flailing with that for a bit I got it back on and rode to the pit for the spare. I rejoined the circus about 13 spots behind where I had been (Curly ended up 9th) and fought out the rest of the race with Wayne Cunningham and some other guy that I ended up gapping in the sand on the last lap.
It was a good start to the season though I should have taken the DNF as my crossresults.com points are not totally effed.
Gloucester next. Preview: I definately have forgotten how to train for cyclocross.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Treasure Valley Rally: 8.29.10
I bought a mtb license this year to force myself to race more. The plan to do 8 events slowly eroded down to three, and I really had to force myself to get to that third one: the Treasure Valley Rally in Rutland Ma.
This course was technical to put it mildly. It was basically two loops of a 9 mile rock garden with a killer one mile climb about 7 miles into the loop. Attendance was up from last year, so either the amnesia is contagious or people actually like riding on trails that the average Burger King eating American would have a hard time walking.
I'm a Veteran II according to EFTA, whatever that means. Pre-race Mr. Kenny had the neutral support thing covered and many of the cross regulars were there... McInnis, Borello, Hines, Reuter, Zank, Rowell, Millette and so on. One of the mtb'ers made a comment about this being the last race of the season and we all chucked... "this is the pre-season buddy!" someone said. Indeed.
At the whistle I settled in the back and began the death march. My HR was in th 170s in no time and we were just barely moving along. The course was relentless, tons of rocks, off camber, and tricky pick-your-way-through parts. Looking for flow? Look elsewhere.
I followed McInnis and Borrello half way through lap one, and when they pulled to the side to get some water I took the front. I didn't intend to get a gap... I had been well above threshold for over 30 minutes and I knew I couldn't hold that for much longer.... but after a short downhill I was alone.
That's really the story of mtb racing: riding alone with no clue where you were in the field. I caught up to K. Buckley towards the end of the lap, but he pulled away shortly after the S/F line. Just over an hour for the first lap... not too bad really.
Next up was Linnea, who before the race said "see you soon" to me, thinking I'd catch her eventually. She was right and when I saw I was gaining I yelled "I'm coming to get ya" and then couldn't close the final 10 meters for the next 15 minutes. I did get past eventually, but only on a spot that she bobbled and I was able to keep riding.
So back to chasking Buckley when I come upon a neighbor of mine who asks if he can use my pump. I drop it thinking that what could possibly happen in the next 3 miles, and if it did, he'd catch me and give the pump back. Great plan, right?
I caught Buckley on that same downhill I had gapped the guys on the first lap. He promptly endoed and I got past, setting my sights on Millette, who was just ahead at this point. Up the killer climb the second and final time and just as I start the descent the rear wheel goes flat. I start the change and wait for my pump. Buckley goes past. Still no neighbor. Linnea next. Then McInnins. Borrello. A bunch of other guys I had passed at the beginning of lap one. It occurs to me that I should at least start to walk.
15 minutes later I reach a clearing and there is my neighbor chatting to a volunteer, clearly out of the race. I was a bit miffed... you take a guys gear you should make the attempt to continue on in the event that they need it. Anyway, filled with air I was off to finish the final mile or so. Second lap was 1:17 or so.
Went for a quick dip in the lake with the kids after the race, which was great. I'm not sure that I'll be back for the 2011 edition, but it was a decent warm up for cross.
This course was technical to put it mildly. It was basically two loops of a 9 mile rock garden with a killer one mile climb about 7 miles into the loop. Attendance was up from last year, so either the amnesia is contagious or people actually like riding on trails that the average Burger King eating American would have a hard time walking.
I'm a Veteran II according to EFTA, whatever that means. Pre-race Mr. Kenny had the neutral support thing covered and many of the cross regulars were there... McInnis, Borello, Hines, Reuter, Zank, Rowell, Millette and so on. One of the mtb'ers made a comment about this being the last race of the season and we all chucked... "this is the pre-season buddy!" someone said. Indeed.
At the whistle I settled in the back and began the death march. My HR was in th 170s in no time and we were just barely moving along. The course was relentless, tons of rocks, off camber, and tricky pick-your-way-through parts. Looking for flow? Look elsewhere.
I followed McInnis and Borrello half way through lap one, and when they pulled to the side to get some water I took the front. I didn't intend to get a gap... I had been well above threshold for over 30 minutes and I knew I couldn't hold that for much longer.... but after a short downhill I was alone.
That's really the story of mtb racing: riding alone with no clue where you were in the field. I caught up to K. Buckley towards the end of the lap, but he pulled away shortly after the S/F line. Just over an hour for the first lap... not too bad really.
Next up was Linnea, who before the race said "see you soon" to me, thinking I'd catch her eventually. She was right and when I saw I was gaining I yelled "I'm coming to get ya" and then couldn't close the final 10 meters for the next 15 minutes. I did get past eventually, but only on a spot that she bobbled and I was able to keep riding.
So back to chasking Buckley when I come upon a neighbor of mine who asks if he can use my pump. I drop it thinking that what could possibly happen in the next 3 miles, and if it did, he'd catch me and give the pump back. Great plan, right?
I caught Buckley on that same downhill I had gapped the guys on the first lap. He promptly endoed and I got past, setting my sights on Millette, who was just ahead at this point. Up the killer climb the second and final time and just as I start the descent the rear wheel goes flat. I start the change and wait for my pump. Buckley goes past. Still no neighbor. Linnea next. Then McInnins. Borrello. A bunch of other guys I had passed at the beginning of lap one. It occurs to me that I should at least start to walk.
15 minutes later I reach a clearing and there is my neighbor chatting to a volunteer, clearly out of the race. I was a bit miffed... you take a guys gear you should make the attempt to continue on in the event that they need it. Anyway, filled with air I was off to finish the final mile or so. Second lap was 1:17 or so.
Went for a quick dip in the lake with the kids after the race, which was great. I'm not sure that I'll be back for the 2011 edition, but it was a decent warm up for cross.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Hodges Village: 8.1.10
I've been trying to squeeze in a rest week for about a month now. It didn't happen during the trip to Puerto Rico: I ate so much bad food I had to ride hard to work it off. Still managed to gain 4 lbs.
So last week worked out well for rest... circumstance had it so that I wasn't able to ride except for Wednesday, when I went hunting for dirt roads with Zank and Mark B. The only thing we found were flat tires... 4 of them... all courtesy of Mr. Z. I've never seen 4 flats in 17 miles of riding until now.
Sunday was my anniversary, 13 years of marital bliss. We celebrated Saturday night with dinner out. The chicken was over cooked, the restaurant was noisy and the ravioli was rubbery but it was awesome because we never go out. This was our first dinner out without the kids in exactly one year.
In discussing what we could do Sunday I casually threw out the bike race that was in the next town as an option, and after some consideration, I got the green light! She just up and told me to go. Sweet!!
Still a licensed Cat 3, I hurried over to catch the Cat 1 field, which they let me in w/o a problem. (What do we have the USCF for again?) I lined up second row with 15 other guys, none of whom I knew except Kurt Perham, a guy who regularly kicks my ass in cross. I had no warm up at all, and at the gun I'm DFL and gulping down dust by the mouthful. Perham is at the front, where I expected him to be.
Into the woods and a few guys were clearly not going to be able to keep this up, least of all me. I got by a few on the long, bumpy, dusty as hell climb and welcomed the sight of the first descent, but was not expecting the dried-up waterfall that we dropped down. Kurt... well... he's a powerful guy and all... but not the most technically strong dude on an mtb.... he was shuffling down the hill. We rode together for a little while but I had no problem dispatching him in anything that wasn't pure pedaling. I know what it's like to ride trails that you don't feel fast on so I can relate. It must have sucked!
Out to the first real clearing and within 30 seconds he's back with me, laying down some serious power on the flat out sections. We kinda-sorta traded pulls, me leading on the technical parts (and dropping him) and he leading on the flats (and dropping me). Team work!!
These mountain bike races are long... and this one was advertised to be 22 miles over 4 laps. The first lap was 6.5 miles. Do the math, that's a 26 mile race. Some may be pleased that they paid for a 22 mile races and got 4 miles for free, however I was not. It was a hot dusty death march and I wondered aloud what the hell I was doing.
There are other fields racing at the same time in this form of cycling, so I had no clue where I was in my category. A few guys were around for a lap or two and then fell back. Others came through. Some women mixed in. Still others on the side of the trails with mechanical problems. Really had no idea how my race was going other than that I was still close to Kurt.
At the start of the third lap, my garmin fell off my handlebars. I thought about going back, because while I wasn't sure where I was in the race I was positive I wasn't leading it and that even if I was there wasn't going to be enough prize money to cover my lost technology. I commiserated with my fellow racers and one guy said "I saw it fall off going down that hill." There was hope, and I decided to check next time around.
Throughout that third lap I was consumed with having lost the Garmin: imagining it crushed on the course, wondering which model I should replace it with, and sick about how much it was going to cost for something that was just in my possession 2 minutes ago!!!! Why hadn't I gone back for it? Didn't want to seem bothered by loosing a $300 watch? Pros would keep going (I think) so I hoped for the best and kept up the pace to get back to the hill asap.
I'd be lying if I didn't say that a good deal of my motivation at that point came from trying to keep up with and perhaps defeat Mr. Perham. He's really that much better than me, and though this clearly wasn't his forte I was hoping to get into his head with a win. HA! Coming through the Start/Finish for the last lap he declared that he was done and pulled off the course. Whaa? I was pretty smoked but had to keep going to check on the Garmin and finish the race. With no carrot to chase and a good 30 min since the Garmin dropped, I lost all motivation to live.. er.. race hard any more. I was blown and my mind was out completely out of it.
It took a while, but I managed to get to the hill and asked a few bystanders if they found a Garmin. "Yeah, they took it to registration" Effin yeah!!!! I was further told that it looked to be fine. Woot!!! This lifted my spirits, but not my pace. I was still noodling along, just running around the course and getting passed by just about everyone. Men, women, and children all had their way with me, but I encouraged each of them on because I thought I was still holding my place. This race... much like this report... had gone on long enough.
Nearing the last hill about 30 minutes into the last lap (only 3/4 of the way around... earlier laps were taking 30 minutes to complete in their entirety), I saw a guy who I had left on lap one. He was an NEBC rider who turned out to be a good guy and friend of the Rowells. I recognized this dude from earlier in the day and decided that I should try and hold him off. He was on me in no time flat, and past shortly thereafter. I tried to keep him in sight but couldn't, and only got back close to him on a flowy descent towards the end of the loop. The 30 minutes of non-racing was a pretty long break, so I flew down the hill and attacked on a short dirt road rise before the last section of trail. I got a gap and drilled it last-lap-of-a-cyclocross-race-style to hold him off for ...6th place? How the hell do you ride that slow for a full 25% of a race and manage to get 6th?
Later I discovered that one guy I let pass probably 10 minutes into that final lap was in my field, and he got 4th! So had I just managed to keep pace and stay in front of him I would have taken 3rd?! Maybe? Listen, I'm not saying that I could have stayed in front of him, I was DONE, but had I been able to, well, who knows. I guess things were going pretty well for those first three laps afterall.
It was fun, but I'm looking forward to cross season and races that are 1/3 as long as that one.
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