Posted: Wed Sep. 23, 2009 11:35 am
Hard fought 3rd place of 4 teams.
Pre ride on Fri:
4 miles in of a 8.8 mile course, I broke my derailleur, on the way back to the car a rider in passing suggested that the race sponsor Casco Bay Sports was at parking area and may still be there and could fix it? We got back after a 4 mile hike and found no one there. So, we decided to drive to the LLBean, open 24 hours? Yes, but I thought, not with mechanics there and what are the chances they will have a SRAM X/0?
Luckily when we walked in two mechanics were there and after checking, came back with an X/9, so we were back in business, what a relief!!
Strategy: We knew we were probably racing for second from the gun, since one of the teams had VT50 times combined, 3-hours faster than we did last year. Brian may have heard of him (Tyler Merritt). So, the thinking was I would do two laps and try to establish a lead on the scoreboard, (penciled in times, not like great glen and real time scoring). Little, did we know how close the battle for 2nd would be. Read on!
Lap 1 - TT ? Slow going, lots of traffic, I think mainly due to the fact the solo?s went first. I think most of them go out at a pretty relaxed pace?? But a good lap overall, probably was good since I was starting with a double.
Lap 2 - TT ? a bit faster than the first and less traffic
Lap 3 ? LL ? this was a good lap for me. Last year I had trouble on this course, largely because I stupidly locked out the suspension on my bike (yes, I?m that much of an idiot) and couldn?t ride anything. This year I did my first lap in an hour and 3 minutes and cleaned a lot of stuff I couldn?t do last year.
Lap 4 ? TT ? fastest lap of the day for me, course was in great shape and no traffic, after arriving at the finish I checked the scoreboard and saw how close the race for second was, I watched for them a bit, figured out which team they were.
Lap 5 ? LL - 3 miles in, things are just GREAT and I?m still in just over an hour. I?m thinking we?re going to make 2nd place which would be great for us in this group.
Lap 6 ? TT - Knowing the team close to us was coming in just ahead of us, their male rider was on course with Loren, so I watched as he came in, and their female rider started with 7 minutes on me. I caught her at the 6 mile marker and after passing the baton I waited to see if I had gotten any lead. Loren only had a 2 minute head start. We were behind, so I was going to do a double next time to try close the gap.
Lap 7 ? LL ? broken pedal. 3 miles in. So I rode the rest of the 8.5ish course on one leg power with the other flopping around on the f-ing flattened egg beaten eggbeater. The language coming out of my mouth was not pretty. Toes and foot on broken pedal side cramping. I am so mad that we?re going to lose the race for 2nd that I can hardly breathe. A mtbmind .com rider takes the message to TT at the transition that I have broken my pedal and tells him pretty accurately how long it will take me to get in (25 or 30min).
Lap 8 ? TT ? Lights on ready to go for a double and I get the bad news from another rider who that tells me Loren broke her pedal and will be late. At this point, I opt for a single since the other team had sent their faster rider on a double. I just toldl Loren to bring the pedal wrench and we would finish with a more leisurely pace having to change one pedal out each time. We were well ahead of 4th and were not going to catch 2nd at this point. Chatted with Steve Segenchuk from mtbmind.com for most of the lap who was doing the solo sport race.
Lap 9 ? LL, all goes pretty well but I?m tiring and it takes me an hour 10. The two women on the teams that are beating me are not tiring and are holding really consistent lap times of closer to 60 minutes.
Lap 10 ? TT ? Fun lap, took it easy, got in just before dark.
Lap 11 ? LL - night lap flat tire. Off bike. Put air in. on bike. Ride like mad. Repeat 3 or 4 times. Coming into the transition zone is the coolest thing ever as I?m one of the last people out there due to the tire. There are like 150 people shaking bells and yelling at me and a ?runway? lined with Tiki torches. That pretty much settles it and we?ll be back at Bradbury next year. But of we?ll take a spare bike and other spare stuff?.
Additonal note ? 7 year old girl raced, 9 year old boy raced, and 3 teams of 2 person juniors (smoking fast) plus 3 teams of parent/child. I don?t know what they feed the kids in Maine but we need to get some of it for our kids and start getting them out there in the woods.
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