Brian
Posts: 854
Location: Newport
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Posted: Mon Jun. 23, 2008 10:33 am
The race local and save gas theme continued this weekend with a trip to the Root66 race in Putney VT. This is a long standing race promoted by the West Hill bike shop. The course has you either climbing slow or descending as fast as you dare, very little in between. Conditions were dry on the verge of dusty with thunderstorms all around. Me and all my expert 30-39 buddies took off on the whistle, shoulders rubbing and tires scrubbing. I settled in around sixth on the first fast downhill and moved up a couple spots when the climb started. At this point I?m riding really comfortable and easily keeping the leader in sight, thoughts of being able to win start dancing through my head. Next hill the guy behind me goes past and starts working towards the front. So I latch onto his wheel and let him open the passing lanes and follow through. Soon we are running at the front and soon after that he starts opening a gap on me and fairly quickly gets out of sight. No more dancing going on in my head. Spend the rest of lap one riding second with one on my rear. Early in lap two I get dropped back to third and remain there for the rest of the lap, never more than a few seconds back. Lap 3 the thunder starts to intensify making for a nice distraction from the pain. Then my bottle came flying out over a rough spot and with 1 ? laps to go I figured I should stop and get it. For the first time second place is out of sight and I figured it would stay that way. Then on the final climb of the lap I get him back in sight and close right up to his back tire. At this point I figure he is fading and I got a good shot at getting second place. Decide to settle in until Heartbreak hill and make my move. As it turned out, the fading was actually pacing as he was able to turn it up a bit more than I on the climb. So I ended up finishing third, behind the top two points guys in the series. Good for my first ever expert NORBA podium, so I am satisfied. And the rain held off for my entire race, Mark on the other hand, well I?ll let him tell you??
[img:7c60f52a7e]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/albums/bc_personal/120x90.png[/img:7c60f52a7e]
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Gurney
Posts: 237
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Posted: Tue Jun. 24, 2008 11:01 pm
Honestly, the picture makes it look much worse than reality. I had a very good race up until the last 15 minutes when the monsoon moved in. And even then it was still a good race.
Despite start times that were widely spaced, Brian and I carpooled. We didn't get there with much time to spare for Brian's start, but he was a model of efficiency and even managed to get some pre-riding in.
After the last of the experts took off, I pedaled a full lap pre-ride, trying very hard to keep the effort easy on the uphills, but one can only go so slow. I returned in enough time to hand up a bottle to Brian (although he didn't need the help, he has a very cool trail-side bottle holder), and before I knew it Brian was coming through the finish line and I needed to warm up.
There were almost 20 of us in my field, I recognized many of them from the Coyote Hill race. This was not a good sign. Those guys started off fast and didn't let up, and I expected the same in this race.
I was right. a couple of minutes into the race I swear I was almost last, stuck in the back of the line of folks bunched up going into the first single track. The guy in front me flopped, I dabbed, the guy behind me flopped, and we all tried to squeeze into the same spot at the same time. Arggh, this isn't on the list of how to get your hear rate down!
So much for getting heart rate down. There was always someone in sight, and someone on my tail. I managed to pass every now and then on a climb, but not often.
Before long the humidity fogged my glasses so much so I could not see at all. So I took them off. Of course, that means that I still can't see - ok, maybe marginally better, but not much. Bad enough that I didn't see the launch rock midway down the first big descent. I went airborne, landed on my front wheel, was quite sure I was going to endo at high speed (you know, one of those terrifying "oh shit this is going to put me in the hospital" moments). I managed to push hard on the handle bars, and hung my butt off the back of the seat to recover. Whew!
On the second lap, I remembered the rock, but I still couldn't see it. But I saw two teenagers standing just to the side of the trail. Aha! This time I slid my butt back over the saddle before the rock, and I apologized to the kids for spoiling their entertainment.
By now we had settled into our respective positions, three of us in close quarters, trading places for what I thought was 8th, 9th and 10th, based on my rough guess on how many got by early, and how many I gained back. (At one point in the second lap we saw about six from our field at the top of a climb we were just starting).
My thought was to maintain position and then nail it for the final climb to the finish line. 1/2 way through the third lap I thought "Gee what a nice little shower - it's cooling me off and feels good - and the trail is still dry".
Moments later I'm riding in a river that's flowing down the single track, mud flying everyhwhere. The mud was getting in my eyes, so I was alternating keeping one eye open, or the other, but not both. I didn't have to drink, and in fact was spitting water out. Traction was non-existent, and made the final climb a real bear. I kept tryng to ride alongside the singletrack, looking for traction.
The rain let up a bit as we finsihed the lap. I locked out my shocks and sprinted hard for the finish. Unfortunately, the racer behind me sprinted harder and I traded eight for ninth place mere seconds from the finish line. That's the first time I've ever sprinted a finish on an MTB race. I rode over to the guy for a congratulatory high-5. Then I decided I didn't really need to be on my bike anymore, and down I went.
I was feeling much better when Brian came over for a photo op. He gave me some water to rinse my eyes out, but then the rumble of thunder was back.
I believe I may have set a record - for the amount of time between sprinting through a finish line, then changng and hopping back in my truck for the ride home. I didn't quite escape the downpour, but it did rinse the mud off me quite nicely.
I was still getting grit and bits of pine needles out of my eyes the next day, but other than that, again I was surprised at how good I felt. I think it was because the majority of the climbs were non-technical, and I spun my way up rather than mashed.
All in all, another good race, one to put on the do-it-again list. And the pictures really made my kids laugh.
MG
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