Crashsome Race

Some people call this Tiger Rag or the Clemson Race.  Not me.  And it started so well, oh so so well.  It may have been my best start ever.

After preriding the unmarked race course on Friday in a thunderstorm and getting totally lost, I didn't have high hopes for this race.  But I had to drive down to Atlanta Sunday for a meeting on Monday, so I really couldn't miss it.  I mean I was driving right by.

I lined up in a group of 16 girls, 3 of them pros.  It was almost laughable.  Not only am I going to start with the pros.  I'm going to race and be scored with them.  Hilarious!

So I lined up in the back and joked that I'd sweep.  Another girl chimed in that she'd join me.  This is going to be fun, right?

Ready, set, go!  We travel down the gravel road for a minute and then head into the single track and I find myself in like 5th place.  Wow, this is cool.  I've never felt like this before. The girls are pushing hard in front of me and even harder behind me. 

Watching them take turns at speed and float over terrain allowed me to do the same.  It felt like I was going faster than I ever had.  It was awesome.  I was able to maintain this position for several minutes up and down hills, through single track and gravel roads, I held my spot and felt so good.

I glided over a crazy, loose, wooden bridge that my friend warned me about.  Then we head up a narrow hill.  I'm right behind the girl in front of me, no problem.  She crashed, I hit her and fall over.  I can't get unclipped.  I'm stuck.  There's no room to get up without holding up traffic.  The entire field passed me.  I was so mad. I finally got up and ran my bike up the hill until I could get back on and ride.

After a few minutes I was able to pass some of the girls back and gain some momentum.  There were three laps, it was a long race.  So I just tried to keep my head down and focus.  At the beginning of the second lap, I had a little crash.  I got up tired to pedal and realized my chain was off.  It fell to the inside of the little ring (I run an XO 2x10) and got stuck.  I tugged and pulled with no luck.  I flipped my bike over and tried again.  At this point I am getting so frustrated watching girls go by me that I passed minutes ago.

After what felt like forever, a nice guy pulled over to help me and it even took him a few minutes to fix it.  When I first got back on my bike, I tried to push, convert my anger and frustration into energy.  That didn't work very well.  But still I tried. 

At the end of the that second lap, I was done, mentally and physically.  It as hot, it was humid, and I had lost my position in the race twice.  And yet I still had 9.5 miles of a 28.5 mile race to go.  I was bonking.  I did my best to finish and just be done.

I came in 11th out of 16.  Pretty sad.  I'm not sure if I could have held that great start, but it would have been nice to try.

Beech Mountain

Saturday morning, three other Dirt Divas and I packed and headed up to the mountains with our four bikes.  We were planning a little girl time, riding a new mountain trail, and a fun race Sunday.  Our cute little hotel had a beautiful view.

The entire area was gorgeous.

We arrived at the trail for our pre-ride at around 1pm.  After unloading all the bikes, we adjusted seats since they had to be moved to fit in the rack.  I set mine, tightened it a bit and went to test it, thinking it felt a little low last time I road.  When I got back from my little test ride, my friend had the tool, so I continued to get my riding gear on.  Then as everyone was ready to lock the car, I grabbed the tool real quick to tighten my seat post camp just a bit more.  In my haste, I wrenched a little too hard and stripped the screw.  UGH!!!

I rode to every bike shop tent set up at the race and no one has a seat post clamp my size.  I finally decided to go throw my seat back in the car and pre-ride standing.  As I rode into the parking lot, I scream at the top of my lungs, 'does anyone have a 36mm seat post clamp?'  And guess what I was offered one by a guy in the car across form me.  He took it off his wife's bike and it worked great.

So about a half an hour later, we began our pre-ride.  The course started up a long fire road, which I would normally be so slow on.  But after the whole seat post fiasco, I was so ecstatic that I flew up the hill.  Then we entered the single track, which was odd.  It was super narrow, mulch like, with tiny little roots everywhere that seemed to stick a few inches out of the mulch.  Just weird.  But fun and challenging because it was different.

Maybe 20 minutes into our ride, a loud wind swept through the trees, followed by...you guessed it...rain.  And like any first rain fall while riding, this rain felt good.  It was chilly, but so refreshing.  But unlike most trails, where they wouldn't become mud for a while, these mulchy trials became mud in just minutes.  I loved it.  In Charlotte we're not allowed to ride in the rain.  This was new, and so much fun.  The others didn't seem to think so though

As we popped out onto the road we were met by a truck that took us off the course because they were calling for hail.  So we only got to ride about half a lap.  Of course the hail never came and the weather actually cleared up in the evening.

We shared a sweet bottle of wine at a wine bar before dinner and then enjoyed a second bottle with dinner at a fabulous steak house with an amazing mountain view.  I had an awesome filet mignon.  And the apple strudel I ordered was actually served with bacon.  Really?  Yes, bacon dessert.  Ahem, this is a bike blog.

Okay, so the next morning, my two sport class friends left before I woke up because their race was at 10am.  As I opened my eyes, there was a huge storm overhead.  Ridiculous wind, rain, thunder, lightening.  The weather postponed their start till 11am.  They had a very muddy but at least dry race.  A little after 11am, the storm passed and we even got a little sunshine, well maybe I'm just remembering it with rose colored glasses. 

Only one of my sport friends raced.  The other decided to spare her bike the mud.  The expert race was scheduled to go off at 1pm.  My other expert friend and I were both undecided about racing.  I was okay with skipping it because I was worried about slipping unexpectedly and landing on my shoulder.  But I also felt like the weekend was a waste if I came all the way up and didn't race.  I mean I missed father's day and so miss my little Jackie.

Fortunately, my other expert friend decided to got for it!  About 12:20pm, we started prepping.  We each downed a Red Bull, ate a bagel, and got changed.  Then of course it start raining.  And raining hard.  And then the temperature dropped, a lot.  Brrr!  I actually asked a guy with an umbrella to walk me to the restroom since I was hiding under the tent staying dry.  All the other girls were riding around, warming up.  I stayed dry till the last second when they called us to the line.   Even then the umbrella guy escorted me to the start line and covered me until we went off. 

I stayed with the pack up the hill, but they dropped me in the single track, I mean slop.  It was 6 plus inches thick of just soupy mud.  Crazy, soupy, mulchy mud.  It was awesome.  It was laughable.  Really it was hysterical.  And of course I loved it.  On the first lap, I felt like I spent most of the time off my bike.  Lucky for me, I like to run.  So this wasn't so bad.  After just a few minutes I caught up to my friend who is much, much faster than me.  She was ready to DNF.  I was kind of having a blast so I tried to be supportive.  She offered to ride together.  But I new there was a long downhill switchback section coming up and I wasn't willing to risk riding it.  So I told her to keep going.  I walked most of it, fell down the rest.

But still it was so fun.  I was smiling and yelling and really, really happy.  At the start of the second lap, I felt even better and I finally started to get the hang of riding/sliding in the slop.  I went faster, crashed more, and got into the mud wrestling with myself thing. 

During the second lap I was able to ride the long downhill switch back section and that made me proud.  I only fell once.  I also made it up a lot more hills.  It helped that I wasn't in the big ring like on the first lap (DUH!).  I realized that every run up the unridable hills brought me closer to my super fast friend.  She walked, I ran.  At one point as she stopped to get mud off her bike, I ran past and opened up a nice gap.

As if I didn't love my bike enough already, it turns out it sheds mud and gunk really well.  All those full suspension bikes seemed to hold about 10 extra pounds of mud.  It was kind of funny.  I love my hardtail.  Can you tell?

About ten minutes from the end, I had my worst crash.  Not sure what happened, but I landed hard of my back and then hit my head.  I wasn't hurt, but my helmet broke.  I wanted to finish the race and not get disqualified.  So I tried to keep my helmet on my head as well as I could.  Here I am entering the last section of single track beore the finish.

This is one of the drier, less muddy, easy sections.

And then it was over.  I was happy, full of joy, accomplished.  It was a great race.

My finish?  I came in 5th our of 6 pro and expert women.  But only two of us were over 30, so I won  my class.  And I was only three minutes behind the teeny boppers.  So nothing to be embarrassed about.

It was a great girls weekend in the mountains, I mean MUD! 

Fisher Farm Race

My Trek Mountain Co-op teammate Jon Naylor was kind enough to drive us all the way up to Davidson for tonight's race.  It seems like I only make it up to Fisher Farm once a year, and always for a race.  It's a fun little course that I really do enjoy.  I took a little pressure out of my tires and the bike seemed to float over the rooty sections, which is about 80% of the trail.  It's a great power course, where you can stand up and hammer through the whole thing. 

We start up a crazy steep grassy hill and I got into the woods 2nd to last.  I'm not a fast starter, especially up hills.  But I did pass over 15 guys in the three laps we rode.  Unfortunately not many were in my class.  Even so, I ended up 6th out of 10.  And did I mention it was almost 100 degrees.  Summer in Charlotte, gotta love it.  Oh wait, it's not actually summer yet....so it will get hotter...

Two Extra Gears

Yes, that's what the new wheels feel like to me.  I raced Reni last night and came in 5th in the Sport Men's class.  And honestly I got a bad start (new shoes, new pedals, new clips...duh!)  Plus there was a train of slow big guys that didn't let me pass for almost 15 minutes.  And of course let's not forget the guy that crashed right in front of me just minutes before the end of the race.  Wow, I've really gone off on a tangent here.  What I meant to say is I really lost a lot of time and came in 5th.

The wheels felt great.  Obviously the lighter weight means faster climbing, easier starting, and better rolling.  And for me, at about 110 pounds these days, the were stiff and strong enough.  I am so happy with my choice.  Thanks Stan's!

But you know the best part....hubby got my old wheels.  They are Bontragger RXL which are pretty good.  And they were already set up tubeless with a beefy tire in the front and a race tire in the back.  So for him, on his GF X-Cal, my old wheels were a huge upgrade and his first feel of tubeless.  And he loves them!  Kid in a candy store loves them.  And that is the greatest feeling for me.  Win win, right?