Riding with Homies to the Center of the Universe

Had a lovely weekend of long rides with no racing. The cross-country mountain bike races kept me busy all summer, but I really wasn't able to get out for some fun rides. Saturday I would "open legs" for the race, Sunday ride a pre-lap then race. I might ride 5 hours in a weekend, where I would prefer to do two 5-hour rides.

With Frankenbike and Versailles on the Horizon I wanted to get some quality base miles back in my legs. Saturday was a long ride with teammates and minor celebrities. The Best Bike Blog Ever, Cincinnati John from the Two Johns Cycling Podcast, the Pilot... It was hard to get a ride in because we were signing so many autographs. Kidding.


Sunday Bridget and I trained on the course for the 6 Hours of Versailles. It is so lovely out there. We had a nice picnic lakeside after the ride.

Race #75: Whistling Dixie

I caught a ride with Matthew Stierwalt down to General Butler State Park in Corrolton, Kentucky. This park brings back fond memories of Bridget getting back into the sport that she loves, back in 2003 when it felt like we were just kids fresh out of college. She had raced there in the late 90s, when mountain biking was epic. Here is a BioWheels race report about Bike Butler back in the day. Matthew raced there as well back in the day, on a Bianci Forté with Look clipless pedals better served for the road and a suspension fork that would have made a better pogo stick.

Prelap:
I lined up and realized this was my first real race of the year. There wasn't much bumping shoulders on single track in the Death March. I was glad to shake some of the racing cobwebs off a week before Mohican. Butch, Marty, Matt and I went for a warm up lap, it was only 5 miles but there was a fair amount of mud and areas where conditions would deteriorate over the course of the race. It was funny, I found that the granny gear was the best choice for all the muddy climbing.

Lap 1:
The race started fairly fast. I was about 5th or 6th into the trail with Marty and Matt just behind. I kept gunning it and was holding Rusty's wheel so I wouldn't create a gap. I was very happy to be within 2 bike lengths of Rusty and another guy from Backwoods Racing within the first quarter lap — those guys from Louisville are freakin' fast. What I didn't realize was that I was slowly going anaerobic — with all the oxygen going to my muscles and evacuating the ole bird brain. About that time I hit a sloppy, muddy downhill going really fast. Well I ate it really hard with my head hitting the ground and my handlebars twisted backward. It took me a few seconds to pull the bars off — leaving a huge scratch on my top tube! I jumped back on and wouldn't you know it — my chain had dropped too! Marty and Matt passed me as I was getting the chain back on. I caught up to them and we formed a Cincinnati chase group. Matt was setting a steady pace as I tried to catch my breath. I was still so full of adrenaline I wanted to ride 20 mph, but I knew unless I settled down I would crash again. So we hung together in a little paceline for about half a lap. At one point I passed Marty where my poor handling must have drove him crazy! We hit an open marshy section and I decided to raise the pace and try to hunt down any Louisville rider I could. I created a gap and I wanted to see if I could beat Marty for once in my life, I thought I would take advantage of an opportunity while I had it. But Marty wasn't feeling his best that day.

Lap 2:
Still riding like a newbie. Slowing down. Fearing my comrads coming from behind. Marty's stem broke and he had to DNF. He was shouting out that I was 3rd or something. I didn't believe him, and i didn't want to get my hopes up — but then I remembered there was both a Pro AND an Expert class. Hmm... I started to get siked and dreamt of podiums and champaign.

Lap 3:
Smooth sailing! Cleaned everything! Settled down and rode like a real mountain biker, riding a tight-rope up the edges of the trail on the muddy uphills. I was so proud. The marshes were getting nasty, and I swear I could smell stagnant horse poop in the water AND IT WAS SPLASHING ON MY BOTTLES!

Lap 4:
Chain suck! I had to switch it into the middle ring and muscle it out. I passed a BikeClicks guy cramping on the ground (from all the mud) and I felt like a cramp coming on. The second half of the lap I was trying to gun it as much as I could — thinking teammate Karwash or another rider would come from behind and steal my potential podium.

Finale:
So the South won this battle. Backwoods and other Louisville riders took the first four spots, I came in 5th. But I think I might have been third in the Expert class, but what I didn't know was that I was FIRST in the 30-39 age group. It feels a bit cheap but I got paid some sweet money and this is my first win since November of 2009, 44 races ago. But in all reality, getting fifth in this field and third in Expert is a major result for me.

The South also won in another way. I got the shits — I think from that nasty marsh water on my water bottles. Would this be known as General Butler's revenge?

Race #38: Band of Brothers

All the reasons why I came to BioWheels were completely cemented at this race. All my teammates are great people who will help you at the drop of the hat, push you to do your best through competition (I have been training my ass off to do the kit justice). At the last minute the bad luck I skirted in Cohutta caught up with me as my dry conditions tires were sliced by the Lord Himself (or is this good luck?). Nate hooked me up with better tires, brought up in the middle of the night by Mitch. They both stayed up with me trying to get them to seal.

It’s a little intimidating to know that you are slated to do battle against 223 other 100k open racers. Like Cohutta I had pushed myself to go out hard, thinking that if I could stay ahead the gaps behind me may buffer me from losing time and positions. My smarter teammates knew they should pace themselves and use the end of the race to pick off spots.

Unfortunately I began to cramp on the hike-a-bikes early. It was frustrating to feel early on that I wasn’t really racing but trying to survive. Maybe it was the humidity, the lack of easy places to drink or the two beers and the hot tub the day before — I wasn't feeling my best. I did have some moments of glory. I was with Amanda McKay when I rode a creek and climbed out of that bad boy like a real mountain biker. I was shredding some trail at about 14 mph (great for me) before and after checkpoint 1. I passed some people here that ended up finishing an hour behind me.

But the cramps came back and I slowed. I was with Charley Miller when his legs forced him to DNF after this crazy horse trail descent over 2x4s. I was climbing the next hill when I fell over and got a cramp so severe I laid on the ground for a moment! I nearly DNFed right there. But I saw Karwisch and he cheered me up and I soldiered on.

I have no idea what happened at the end of the race. I followed Karwisch to checkpoint 2 and caught Mitch there. I was a few minutes behind Mitch at checkpoint 3. They turned on the rocket packs while I threw out the anchor!

Talking about great teammates. Joe's shoe destructed so he had to DNF, and Nate's bike is too pretty to gunk up — so they came to aid station 3 to give us royal treatment!

I need to learn to shred some trail — I lost so much time in the final part of the race through the rock gardens. I crashed a handfull of times and I feel like a defeated boxer. I came in 36 out of 116 finishers (another 107 racers DNF'd or DNS'd). 7:14:50-sumthin. Lost a lot of time with little dabs and slips. But hey! I have progressed so much as a mountain biker. Those perfect races are few and far between.

Lessons learned:
– Perhaps use time off the bike to refuel. Should have been chugging on the early hike-a-bikes.
– Hey dummy, there is Heed at the Aid stations. At Cohutta I fiddled with Nuun tablets on climbs!
– Maybe not pre-open Clif bars before a muddy race. Gross.
– Don't over-train! I wanted to repeat my success at Cohutta.
– Learn more about the drive train so I maintain it during the race.
– Remember to stretch and pee on & off the bike if possible.
– Remember the First Aid kit! I am black, blue and bloody.

Side effects:
– Major chain ring wound in the back of my left leg. It got packed with mud.
– Shaved a lot of skin off one of my knuckles, also got packed with mud, yuck.
– I'm worried I swallowed some nasty mud. I have had minor IBS since the race, maybe I'll go to the doc!
– My back is killing, better go to Sophie at Norwood Chiropractic ASAP!

Smiling through the mud

Bridget, Jacob, Jeni and Scott from Seven Hills and I went down to Dirt, Sweat and Gears this year. It was nice to get out and camp and hang with some friends. The preride was pretty fun, minus Bridget's flat tire. I was riding a borrowed Gary Fisher full-suspenion mountain bike. It made a lot things more ridable and the geometry made descending a lot easier, I wasn't leaning over the front wheel as much.

I guess overnight it rained a little. And then a thunderstorm struck just before our Le Mans start. I bridged up to Bridget as the pack raced through the infield. I felt my back tire sliding out a lot in the slippery corners but I tried to hold her wheel. But alas my luck ran out and I went down losing many spaces.

I enjoyed riding through the woods in the rain and for some reason the thunder strikes didn't bother me. But the spaces I lost cost me and I ended up behind a lot of riders that could not ride up the slippery climbs. Once I got past these riders I had a lot of fun and I think I was even able to ride for a continuos five minutes. I really had a blast on the first lap.

But hours later the course's condition deteriorated immensely. The trail's mud became thicker and full of grass and rocks. I tried to go out for a second lap but I found once I hit these sections the bike I was riding became extremely heavy and the wheels jammed and would not turn. I gave up. I wish I were tough enough to soldier on but I feared I would get into a bad place emotionally and be stranded on the trail for hours destroying a bike that I didn't even own.