Glocester Grind

Now I may not be the most experienced bike racer out there, but one thing I have learned is that typically you don't want to drink margaritas and stay out 'til 3 AM the night before a race. However, knowing something and acting accordingly are two different things.

On the plus side, this immature behavior does add some great excuses to the already stellar cache I had this week. The pre-existing to the night-before-the-race-shenanigans excuses were: I had a cold this week which just started to clear up Saturday; I only rode 3 days; I decided the morning of that I was racing; my bike’s front brake decided it didn’t want to work; and I had a slow leak with left me with just enough air to get across the finish line. Whew, I think that’s everything. Oh, and, does, ‘I didn’t have a 29er’ count as a valid excuse?

Seriously though, I had a lot of fun in this race. The weather was perfect for a change, and after a week of half-ass wussy riding, I was more than ready to go deep into the pain zone. Glocester is a bike-handlers’ course, make no mistake about it. While I consider myself a proficient bike handler, I’ll be the first to say there’s some guys way more talented than I at riding in the really rough stuff. That, coupled with the fact that there’s basically no climbing, makes this race not really one I’ll probably ever get a really good result at. I’ve never been especially good at rock gardens, and man-alive does Glocester have rock gardens -- huge, dangerous, muddy, long sections of rock gardens. After attempting to ride some of the more outrageous ones on the first lap, I realized that it was faster or just as fast to just jump off the bike and run. Due to not really having any warm-up, the first lap I was huffing and puffing and had no chance of jumping on the leaders. I don’t know for sure, but I’m fairly confident my second lap was my fastest; I was able to follow the wheel of a couple good riders which on this course made a huge difference; plus after having one go-around I knew what was coming better. Third lap I started to run a bit low on gas and sure enough, and I noticed my rear tire was getting soft. Perfect. I just hoped and prayed it held together enough to make it the next few miles to the finish, and focused on keeping as much weight off of it as possible. Luckily I was able to finish on it. Oh, the finish – yeah, that’s another thing….because I was so smoked by the end, I forgot the sharp LEFT up the hill to go to the finish line. So I stopped, and casually rode for a few seconds before I realized this and then nailed it up the hill to the line. Definitely lost probably close to a minute because of that – oh well. I was good enough for a time of 1:34:56 and 7th out of I believe 10 Senior II riders - overall mid-pack for the Experts.

I also did the Sterling Road Race last weekend in the rain, which was a really fun course – rolling hills, and one steep short hill right at the finish/start line. I was at the front most of the race, but of course I wasn’t there at the deciding time, right at the start of the final lap after the hill, 3 riders attacked when everyone was recovering and got a gap. I missed this happening because I wasn’t on the front, and when I went back to the front had no idea there was a break. No one seemed to be in the mood to really chase them, so by the time we came to the finish they had put a minute into the peloton. I was third in the group sprint up the hill for the finish, passing a lot of guys, so I’m OK with 7th out of 30.

Massasoit Lung Opener - man, it’s been too long since I updated this! This race in a word: awesome. Seriously, this was like, the best race ever - a total blast. Probably my favorite race course ever, and perfect weather to boot. I had a crash on the first lap on a downhill because there was a sharp turn with a tree right there, and of course, my front brake decided it didn’t want to work. I was at the lead group until the crash, then it was just a matter of trying to get my mojo back – which I gradually did. Believe it or not, I think one of the things I need to work on most is going down the hills...some guys just blow past me on technical downhills – the same guys I drop going up.

But anyway, lots of great riding lately; including the Fells opening day/Trek demo day event with Gary Fisher - had a blast with Thom Parsons and his hammer ride. He took us on a bunch of trails I never even knew existed – pretty exciting stuff. Next week is EFTA NECS# 2 – the Weeping Willow at Willowdale Park in Ipswich. I'll start getting the excuses ready!