All of a sudden, I haven't ridden in over a week. What the hell? Oh, right - it's December. I had ideas for a grandiose super-update, but the words just aren't coming. It's surprisingly difficult to think of goals for riding, or anything riding-related when there's a foot of snow outside and I haven't even looked at a bicycle in a week. Suffice to say, since my last update in October, I've logged some decent miles, but nothing truly epic (hence the lack of update). My last ride was a week ago from Friday, in the the Fells. It was..cold. Very cold. About 15 degrees. The great thing about it being that cold is that no one else goes out; I had zero hiker run-ins on the ride, something which I can't say about my previous foray into holier-than-thou place known as Middlesex Fells.
Goals for 2010: -Upgrade to Cat 1 for MTB -Do more Root 66 races -Do a (preferably many) road race. -Do a (preferably many) cross race. -Get a new road bike. -Get a powermeter that actually works, and use it to do structured intervals.
That's it for now...I'm sure I'll think of more. Did I mention there's a foot of snow outside? Time to buy a (better) trainer.
Motivation to ride...slipping. Fitness...also slipping. It's not that I don't still want to ride, it's just that, after coming home from work, and it being dark before I can even collect my thoughts, it means every ride would have to be a night ride. I like night rides, but not as much as rides during the day. I’m usually only good for one night ride a week. It’ s just a lot of effort, and not as much fun. It doesn’t help that the past few nights it’s been down in the lower 30s. Like last night, for instance, I had every good intention of bucking the trend and strapping on the lights to hit up the trails, but when it came down to it, baked mac n cheese and watching House seemed like a better time.
My only real riding the past couple weeks have been on the weekends. Last Saturday I banged out a solid 75 miles on the road, going up to Newbury/Rowley and back through Georgetown/Boxford area. Atrocious headwind the whole way (somehow, despite it being a loop), and pretty chilly temps. Still felt good to get out, though. Weekend before last was a big one; 50-ish chilly, windy, (somewhat-hung-over) road miles up through Boxford, Breakheart (“full bitch”, or full loop for those unaccustomed do Team BH parlance), then a epic doubleheader on Monday, since I took Columbus Day off from work. First Matt and I hit up the Fells, then I rode home, crammed down a couple sandwiches, and headed up to Harold Parker with Nate. He showed me some an awesome new trail that someone (I’m guessing NEMBA?) had obviously built for mountain bikers and obviously put a lot of thought and effort into. Thank you, whoever is responsible for it! It is awesome, sweet berms, nice sheer drop off to the side at one point, and a super fun pump track - which I need to get better at riding ( I was never really a BMXer). In all, on Monday I’d estimate I probably put down 35-40 miles of trail riding, a solid day.
This may come as a shock to some of you, but I’m on the fence! I’m on the fence about getting into cross racing, but something that may have just pushed me off was coming across a sweet Independent Fabrications Planet Cross for sale in my size on Craigslist. If I can grab it, I will be off to the races. It looked like too good of a deal not to jump on, so I did. I’m hoping the seller gets back to me soon! I figure I’ll try a cross race or two…just having some kind of racing going on will help boost my recently flagging motivation to keep my fitness.
It’s tough staying fit when the daylight starts waning – I like Oktoberfest beer too much!
To be honest, upon awakening to the sound of heavy rain at 7AM, my motivation to race was probably the lowest it’s ever been the whole summer, but with it being the last race at Fort Rock (the end of a 14 year era), and it being the last EFTA race of the season, I knew I had to do it. Having Nate to go up with also didn’t hurt. We got our free McDonald's coffees (which only meant we had to wait in the slowest drive-thru line ever for about 20 minutes), and headed up Route 95 through the chilly rainy morning towards Exeter. As I finished my coffee on the way up, I start to get excited about racing. The weather up north was actually not as bad; by the time we got to Exeter it wasn’t raining at all.
Turnout was a bit disappointing, but then I was reminded that the Vermont 50 was also being held today. Riding 50 miles on muddy trails in the pouring rain…jeeze, for once I’m actually glad I didn’t attempt the VT 50. My goal for this race was to clinch the EFTA title for Senior 1 Expert, which I was already pretty sure I was going to do regardless of my finish in this race, and second, to try to beat Brian from JRA, who has consistently finished 1-3 minutes ahead of me in every EFTA race this season (and most of last year). I got a good warm up in, heading down to Exeter center and back on route 85, and was feeling good. The race had a fun, relaxed atmosphere, and I was in a good mood. My race number was 13 - what could possibly go wrong!? I let a bit of air out of the tires, to put them right around 25, put a bit of air in the SID, and then it was time to line up. I was disappointed to see I was the only Senior 1 expert, but there was a strong showing from the Vet 1 and Vet2 field, and a lot of those ‘old guys’ are fast! They announced it would only be 3 laps for Expert, and a 4 mile course, so a total of only 12 miles, as compared to last year’s 18 mile course.
The first lap I didn’t quite get a hole shot, but was probably 4 or 5 bikes back from the front, and going at a good pace, keeping sight of the leaders until the first technical section where, of course, it bunched up. From then out, I was riding right ton Brian McGinnis’ rear wheel, until about the half way point in the lap, where I snuck by and hit the gas hard to try to put some distance between us. It worked. After the first lap, and going into the second one, I couldn’t hear the wail of disc brakes, nor see any riders behind me. I kept a pretty good pace going, but could tell the course was getting more slippery. I actually was really enjoying the course; although it was wet, it really wasn’t that muddy (no mud bogs ala Harding Hill), and other than one hike-a-bike section, the course had pretty good flow. Although they never showed the lap times, I’m pretty sure my first lap was my fastest. I’m not sure if it wasn’t getting enough sleep the 3 days proceeding, or if maybe I should have had a bigger breakfast, but I felt myself start to lose my technical edge about half way through the second lap; I was getting ragged around the edges. I think part of it was that the course was getting slicker, which started to affect my confidence in riding over the roots and slick rock faces.
Going into lap 3, I passed Elite rider Chris Gagnon, who looked to be having a bad day, I relaxed the pace just a bit, and focused on trying to ride everything smoothly and not crash. In retrospect, I probably eased-off the pace a bit too much, as about three quarters of the way through lap 3, I heard someone coming up behind me quickly, and, low and behold, it was Brian. He passed me almost like I was standing still, and I tried to keep contact, but bobbled on a rocky section after a wet bridge, and he got a gap. I knew the race was just about over, so I tried as hard as I could to keep him in sight. As we came out of the woods onto the approximately ½ mile double track trail leading to the finish, he was about 50 yards ahead of me. I gave it all I had, and closed the gap somewhat, but in the end it wasn’t enough, and he beat me by 7 seconds.
I didn’t beat Brian, but it was the most close I’ve come all season! Back at the Gloucester Grind in May he beat me by 6 minutes, in an equally technical, approximately same length race.( http://www.efta.com/PDF/results/2009/2009%20grind.pdf ) Overall the final race at Fort Rock was a very fun race. I got first for Senior 1 Expert (only person in it! ), and clinched my second consecutive EFTA Expert Senior 1 title. Next year I’ll be a Senior II, and have some very stiff competition, I’m looking forward to it.
With the mountain bike race season officially over, it marks the beginning of Cyclocross season and night ride season. While I’m avidly into the later; I have yet to get into the former. I’ve been keeping my eyes out for a moderately-priced Cyclocross bike. I did a road ride up to Gloucester this past Sunday to watch the Gran Prix of Gloucester, it definitely looked like a lot of fun.
Great night road ride last week, too. Did the Boxford loop with Nate. Left around 6:30, and within 20 minutes, it was time for the lights. With the super bright Planet Bike LED taillight, and my trusty Jet Halogen, at no point did I feel unsafe, or question whether cars could see me. Those quiet, dark (no streetlights) roads in Boxford are awesome to cruise down in the stillness of night. It’s just you, the bubble of light ahead of you, and the moon. The night scenery silently and effortlessly flies by, and it is simply, beautiful.
All the riding from here until the first snow falls will be for fun. No more intervals, recovery rides, or staying in on the weekends to rest for a big race. It’s the season of night rides, arm warmers, and beer. Bring it on.
A fairly uneventful race at Mt Snow this past Sunday. The most eventful thing was a Vermont statie bagging me on the way up. Note: do not speed in Vermont! I was only speeding because I had missed the exit off of 91, and had to double back...shit. There goes my perfect driving record.
Anyway, it was a rather disappointing turnout (see picture), I guess all those people that said they were going to boycott this, the third race at Mt Snow, weren't kidding. Well it sucks to be them, because the conditions were perfect. No mud. Yes, that's right, I said no mud - at Mount Snow. In fact it was downright dusty.
Hopefully this will be my final race as a Cat 2, as I'm pretty sure USAC will approve my upgrade to 1 next season, but alas, the field wasn't very deep for this race; total of maybe 20 Cat 2's?
The number one thing about this race that will stick out in my head was how...eerie it was. The weather was perfect, but there was just that sense in the back of my head, that I won't be here again for a while, and that the season is - except for Fort Rock next week - basically over. It was eerie because, other than the few Cat 2 racers (the Cat 1 race was earlier in the day and they had since cleared out), the place was a ghost town. Last time I was at Mt Snow it was Nationals complete with the festival atmosphere, and that's how I remembered it. I was expecting a much bigger crowd, considering the epic turnout of Landmine last week.
The ghost-town-ness of the venue and the course made for a rather lonely race. From the gun I took off and was shocked...5 seconds into the race and every one was well behind me and except for one fellow sandbagger who took right off up the hill and was never seen again - in the end he beat me by about 2 min, giving me second place. Speaking of sandbagging, the cat 2 guys didn't take kindly to me asking if we could do 3 laps at the start line...only 2? I know, it's a tough course, but c'mon - I drove three hours here! At any rate, I was by myself 90% of the race, except for the near end of the first lap where a guy passed me like I was standing still on a really rough downhill section, then we rode together through the lap point, and I slowly put a gap into him going back up on the second lap. Once at the top, I could not see him, and hopped I had put enough time between us on the climb, as he was obviously a better descender ( and it didn't hurt he was riding a Ellsworth Truth, what is that, a 5" of travel?) Luckily I did put enough time into him, as despite my sucky descending, I finished about two min ahead of him.
The course was pretty damn good, I gotta say. The downhills were very challenging, I need practice at extreme downhilling like that, as we don't really have anything remotely similar in this neck of the woods. I felt pretty strong on the climb, but man, is it brutal. All that fire road at ~20% grade in spots is demoralizing to say the least. I definitely could have done a third lap, and I feel like it would have been faster than the previous two just from having a better idea of the lines on the downhill. Oh well, so it goes.
Fort Rock next week, and then the fat lady sings for the '09 MTB race season..
Mt Snow this weekend...I'm psyched. I missed the first two races this year there, so I'm glad they're doing a third (it seems like I'm the only person glad for them to be doing a third). My first race ever was at Mt Snow, and I have fond memories of the mud, rocks, and roots. Can't wait. Anyone want to carpool up with me?
After my terrible luck at Treasure Valley (double flatted, threw bike into a tree at one point….in Team Breakheart we call that pulling a Kevin Scott), I was hoping I had gotten all my bad luck behind me.I really wanted to do well at Landmine because the last time I raced here was ’05, and I was a DNF due to…yes you guessed it, getting a flat and not having a spare.I needed to get my revenge on Wampatuck.Of course, in typical New England fashion we got 4.5 inches of rain the day before the race, and according to all the radar reports, it was centralized right over the Hingham area.So much for the prospect of this season’s first dry MTB race…
While going over the Anthem getting it ready for battle, I was having trouble getting my rear Crossmax SLR to seal up with my Maxxis Crossmark tubeless, but luckily I dropped by Nate’s house Saturday night and with some help from ‘Stan’, we were able to get it set up.Let me just say…THANK GOD I was running full tubeless for this race.It was so slippery, rooty, and rocky, that being able to run 25 psi saved my ass, no doubt.I saw multiple guys wipe out on the wooden bridges, -- they were indeed as slippery as ice…I know if I were running higher tire pressure that I would have had to with tubes I would have had nowhere near as much control over the slippery stuff.
Race day arrives and it’s dark and dreary looking as…well, as just about every race this whole season, and the entire month of June and July.Get to the venue with plenty of time, am amazed by the huge turn out, get a good warm-up in, and felt overall felt well-rested and ready to rock.
Due to USA Cycling’s vast bureaucracy and their rule against allowing one-day Cat 1 licenses,I had to race as a Cat 2 (I race in EFTA as a Expert), I plan to submit for an upgrade to Cat 1 for next season, but due to me only a couple USAC races this year, I didn’t have the results to submit for this season.So, call me a sandbagger if you want…
The gun goes off and I’m sitting in the big pack of about thirty Cat 2 19-29 year old riders, not a super fast start, not quite as fast as the Cat 1 starts, probably became there wasn’t really any hole shot.I start picking off guys in the first few minutes – that’s the thing with Cat 2, the fitness/bike handling skills are all-over the place, so you have some guys who will bobble the easiest sections, then some guys that are actually pretty quick.After about 15 minutes in I’ve passed about the whole field except for 3 guys.One really skinny dude keeps spinning his tire out on every root, and I keep trying to get around him but he’s not letting me…finally after 5 or so minutes of frustration I pass him on a downhill section, along with a woman rider who was walking.Now there is just me and one kid left, who doesn’t look that fast, but I quickly realize he is a decent rider.I initially underestimated him because he was wearing baggies, and using a camelback, but the thing was, he had crazy-good technical skills.Any technical downhill, mud bog, or rock garden, he would get a gap on me, but any time there was a pavement section (of which there were quite a few, or a climb (it was a pretty flat course, but there were a few mild climbs), I would gap him.The first time I passed him on a pavement section, I hammered really hard trying to make sure he couldn’t see me, and had left him out of my sights, so I was very shocked to hear him up behind me again about 20 minutes later in the midst of some technical singletrack.I knew it was him because he kept clearing his throat, like every 30 seconds.Weird, mildly annoying, but made it easy to know if he was nearby.And so we danced, passing slower Expert riders, tons of guys out there with flats or mechanicals, andpogo-ing back and forth, trading places.I was obvious lythe roadie, and he having top-notch tech skills, floated over all the rough stuff. I saw a few nasty crashes happen right in front of me; one guy endo-ed on at the bottom of a steep downhill into a mud bog; another guy was flying on a wooden bridge and slid out, with his head hitting one of the support pillars .It was an especially scary-looking crash; I said “Holy shit are you OK man?!”He got right up and said “Yeah thanks for asking”.Yikes, glad it wasn’t me. The slippery bridges were the number two complaint of the race that I heard from fellow racers, the number one complaint was the spare-in-spots arrowing of the extremely circuitous course.I stayed on course the whole time, though.
In the last 3 miles I finally put some good distance between me and throat-clearing dude.The last two miles (they did a great job with mile markers on the trees) were the longest….my handlebar started to slip in the stem, I felt the beginnings of a cramp in my left leg, and I feared the proverbial wheels were going to come off the cart and any minute I’d hear the throat-clearing guy behind me.Luckily I guess I had put enough time into him on the powerline climb, that even though the last few miles were basically all rock gardens (not my strong suit), I never saw him again. Coming up to the finish, I saw them carrying a rider out on a stretcher, and was forewarned to go extremely carefully on the last bridge.I did, and I made it across okay, but then proceeded to make a stupid mistake and slid out on some roots – my only actual wipe-out of the whole race, and it was within about 500 feet of the finish line, gotta love it.I got back on the bike and hammered over the big dirt berm, past the spectator area, and across the line.First place, nice!
So many things have to come together to have a good finish in a mountain bike race, and finally, they came together for me.The Anthem worked flawlessly (except for the handlebar moving right at the end of the race – I’ll need to pick up a 4 bolt stem), I was running the perfect tire and suspension air pressure, I was well-rested, and ate and hydrated right.
It was the first race this season where at no point did I hope for a mechanical to ‘end the suffering’, or ask myself, “why the HELL am I doing this!?” – I actually had fun.
Wampatuck is a great place to ride, this turnout this year was amazing, they said 400+ riders..it was one of the most well-organized bike race I’ve been to.The multiple feed stations were awesome, and although the course definitely could have been arrowed a bit better, I managed to stay on course.It was a pain to wait so long for results to be posted, but I don’ think anyone was expecting the turnout to be as huge as it was.
I think overall it bodes well for the future of our sport to see so many riders on a day when there were multiple other races being held (ESV Topsfield race, the EFTA Millstone Grind in VT).Congratulations go to Kevin Hines for scoring the Golden Bike.His time was freaking amazing…won by 7 minutes.Also, big props to GT Bikes for running such a cool promotion -- we need cheerleaders at races more often!
