Again, my tendency to procrastinate has caught-up with me. There's been three races with no race reports! Let's get right into it.
Domnarski Farm:My first year doing this race, and I didn't know quite what to expect. I almost did the EFTA Big Ring Rumpus over it, but did this instead because, A, my big ring is destroyed, and B, I missed the pre-reg cutoff. I'm glad fate had me wind up doing Domnarski Farm, as this race is the real deal. Around 1500' of climbing per lap; two 10 mile laps. The race is put-on by Matt Domnarski, an awesome dude who lets people show up and park and race on a lot of what is his property. I almost didn't do the race; the weather the day of the race was very 'iffy' - overcast and sprinkly. I was 100% glad I did it. As it turned out, it didn't rain once the whole race, though the course was quite slick from the rain the day before, but I'd definitely seen muddier.
The gun goes off and exactly what I knew was going to happen, happened: pile up as soon as we hit the climb (about 100 yards from the start line); so I get off and run, pass a decent amount of riders, then hop back on and begin the 15 or so minute climb, wildly in oxygen debt, totally out of breath the whole way. After about 5 minutes a lot of the guys I passed running passed me - I was already at the limit and there was nothing I could do to try to grab their wheel. Turns out I paced myself pretty well, because I caught and passed just about all of those guys half way through the first lap, on the brutal powerline climb. This was a huge morale boost, as I thought I was destined to dangle off the back for the rest of the race; instead I was moving up and in 3rd place! I actually caught up to Matt Mooradian at the highest point on the course: the top of $10 pass)the hardest, steepest uphill of the entire course (which I cleared on the first lap). Matt asked me if I was in his group, which I was, and he quickly took off down the descent, narrowly missing the 'tree of death (I almost found out the hard way why they named it that). Matt proved to be a better descender than me, and I lost sight of him halfway down, and never saw him again.
Second lap I was riding by myself 70% of the time, and started to get tired about half way through; I had my only 'crash' of the race, which was just a stupid slide-out in a corner because I was getting tired. I was able to hold onto my position, though, and only got passed by one 35+ rider, and passed one rider in my group on the final descent (apparently because he had lost his middle ring! Did I mention this was a brutal course!?). I sprinted over the line and felt absolutely shelled; destroyed, but psyched. At the time I thought I had gotten 2nd, but after washing up a bit and waiting what seemed like for forever for the results, I saw I had gotten 3rd, which is still my best result this year and I was pleased with. $25 in prize money was a nice surprise. I think my first lap may have been right around the magic one-hour mark, as Matt mentioned his first lap was :59 flat, and I was, I'd estimate, about a minute or so behind him. I thought the race officials were recording lap times..oh well. Next time I'll be sure to time my laps to get the extra $10 any sub-one hour laps got you!
The PinnacleOne of my favorite MTB races, and a true New England classic, is The Pinnacle, held every June in Newport, NH, right outside of Lake Sunapee. The weather and the trails were almost exactly the same as last year; overcast, cool, and muddy. They changed the course this year to add a bit more climbing and added about 2 miles per lap; I really liked it. Unfortunately slick root-laden downhills freak me out, and I tend to not take as many chances as some others. I definitely lost time on the downhill; at least two times I was able to ride the wheels of guys on the way up, only to completely lose them on the way down. Note to self: work on descending. I got 6th out of 12; overall mid-pack expert. Only 3 minutes or so behind first, though, which was definitely closer than last year. Considering how gingerly I went downhill, I was OK with my result.
Putney I went, and I sucked. Any other questions?
If Domnarnski Farm was the toughest MTB race I've done, this had to have been the second. It was the first race this year where I seriously considered quitting and was really hoping for a flat (which is what unfortunately happened to my friend
Nathaniel Williams, who rode up with me) or mechanical. I felt like crap; out of breath the whole time and making no power.
The course itself was really tough because of all the climbing, but some really fast downhill sections kept it interesting. I almost killed myself on the first lap in this once place where I had been warned before the race by Jeff Langfried that it was super hairy, and yet, even with this forewarning, I still almost superman-ed straight into a tree. It's hard to describe, but there was basically a really fast downhill, with a few rollers, then a very abrupt off-camber left turn with a tree front and center if you missed the turn. I carried way too much speed into the corner and came within an inch of my life, but somehow hung on and didn't get to get up-close and personal with the big oak tree. I think multiple expletives were uttered right after, mostly due to the sheer shock that I was somehow still on my bike. Subsequent laps I rode like a small child (as Adam Craig would say) around this section.
Oh, did I mention that Tom Sampson had a mechanical involving his cassette after the first lap and had to spend 5-10 minutes getting it fixed and still managed to pass me half a lap later like I was standing still? Yeah. Me: huffing and puffing, about to die, on the long mid-lap climb; Tom: Sunday ride in the park, passing me at about 150% my speed, not out of breath at all. Humbling, to say the least.
The only real positive I took away from this race was that I finished it, and that I was able to ride on a train comprised of of Jacob Harris and Tom Boobar for about 70% of lap 2. They finally dropped me in the single track when I made a small error due to fatigue. They seemingly instantly put 20 seconds into me, then they were gone, but it was encouraging because I know if I had been having a more fresh day, I could've hung with them. They finished 8 minutes faster than me. I lost tons of time on lap 4, as I was just totally and utterly out of gas. Mike Broderick passed me like I wasn't moving. He was riding a hardtail and I couldn't even begin to hang with him on the high speed downhill. Again, humbling.
Training has been going well; I took a few days off after Putney, as I was absolutely mentally and physically shelled. I've been trying to do the NEBC Hill ride every Wednesday night; it's short, but brutal. I consistently hit my highest heart rates of any rides on it, so it's just a top-end work out, but it's great because there's always serious competition to get to the top of the hills first. I really feel like it's helped my VO2 Max type power; the 3-5 minute stuff.
Well hopefully the next update won't be 2 months away. The next race is Harding Hill this weekend, a race that I have never done well at, and I don't particularly enjoy, but I keep coming back to do. I may be insane.
2-3 miles of double track before any single track at all. I focused on racing smart, riding someones wheel whenever I could, and riding at a pace which would let me finish strong. I think if anything, I may have paced myself too easily, thinking that the climb at the half way point in the lap was worse than it was (I remember it being hellish in '07 & '08); but it really didn't seem that bad this time around, so I may have actually saved a bit too much in the tank. For whatever reason, I find that I always ride hard and pass people on the climbs, then tend to go too easy on the flats, thinking that I can't make up as much time, which, in a MTB race, really isn't the case. Anyway, though my finish was so-so, I had a lot of fun, and was faster than last year, and that's what really matters, right?
