Started this blog with “What a weekend” only to realize my half finished W&M blog started the same way. Clearly I need some new adjectives. That being said it was great to be racing on the single track again.
Andrew, Bryce, Steven and I rolled out of Charlottesville Saturday afternoon headed toward the Southern Virginia Shootout in Danville for the Virginia State Champs. Yes you heard that right, because having your first race of the year be your National’s qualifier makes a ton of sense! Anyway, that’s for another day and another time. We got there to find plenty of snow still on the ground from the storm a couple days before. The fact that it was 65 and sunny meant the trails were a mess. We headed out for our pre-ride but it only lasted about 2 miles before we decided that was enough. The trail was a mess and we were ruining it. Plus the standing water that sat on most of the trail was wicked cold.
From there on out the night reminded me of why this group of guys might be my favorite to race with. Without blabbering about our evening events, we just had a blast hanging out before the race (Lester Brown even joined to add more fun to the group). Between Mexican food, Cook-out, and hotel cookies, it was killer. Tons of laughs and by far the least serious I’ve taken what should be an important race. But as those guys would all say, it’s mountain biking so it’s all about the fun, and we were definitely doing that. |
The next morning we got to the course about 9:30 so Bryce could get ready for his single speed race. He is fitting into the SS culture quite well as seen by his warm up below.
Unfortunately Bryce did a little bit more of a warm up than that and in the process he snapped his tensioning derailleur just 15 minutes prior to the race (lesson learned). Fortunately Steven and Andrew jumped on it and got the bike running before the race by shrinking the chain a couple links. With his bike in questionable condition Steven advised Bryce to run up all the hills so not to put too much power into the pedals. “Just think of it as cross,” he said. The jury rigging seemed to work okay though as even without a tensioner of any kind the chain only fell off 2x. Unfortunately that might have lost him the race as he finished only 2 minutes behind Wilson Hale. Still a great result for Bryce! More importantly he and Wilson both took a beer handoffs at the beginning of the second lap, all I can say is the guy in 2nd at the time didn’t and well, he finished 3rd. Mistake. After Bryce’s race any concern of the course drying up disappeared. I mean, can anyone find him in this picture!?!?! Also Wilson Hale, practicing his blue steel on the podium.
With Bryce’s race over it was time to focus on my race, about 20 minutes before go time I started my warmup (running just a tad behind) and got serious. After a little bit of a delay we got to the starting line and the final instructions were given. I’ll take this moment to let you know that I hate mountain bike starts. I suck at them and they just make me nervous. Maybe it’s because I am a rookie and getting into the pedals is still hard (half kidding). Anyway, back on track, I managed to get into the woods sitting 4th. Of course I blew the first switchback 100 ft. later, but didn’t lose a spot, only my dignity, and we rolled on.
As the lead group made it through the muck gaps continually formed and were closed depending on who got traction on what but a group of 4 emerged as the contenders so to speak and began putting time on the rest of the field. I’m not sure I appreciated how fast that lead group was rolling. Of course it might have been at a price as my heart rate was sky high. On the first lap I think the lead group put about 5 or 6 minutes to the next guy, wow! That early going really was a battle, constantly fighting to keep the bike moving forward and find traction. Everyone was slipping all over the place. There were times I would work as hard as I could and just barely be moving forward. I thought how interesting it would be to have a speed sensor on the rear wheel and see what that average speed was compared to actual speed. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was double.
We made our way to the ¾ mark or so and a big river (or road depending on when you ride the course) gave us the opportunity to relax instead of battling the slippery single track. I grabbed a drink and one of the guys made a pass right before the single track. This isn’t really worth mentioning, except he bumped me in the process and was an in general a jerk about it. I mean honestly, all things equal I was happy sitting 2nd, and didn’t want to get passed but I couldn’t really do much as I was drinking from my bottle. Not sure why he had to make it a hard pass. Maybe I’ve been hanging too much with the chill guys of the mountain bike group but come on man. Just say on your left, it’s not like I could have responded and blocked you, and I’d rather not be crashed out by someone else in a mountain bike race, save it for the road bro.
We made our way to the ¾ mark or so and a big river (or road depending on when you ride the course) gave us the opportunity to relax instead of battling the slippery single track. I grabbed a drink and one of the guys made a pass right before the single track. This isn’t really worth mentioning, except he bumped me in the process and was an in general a jerk about it. I mean honestly, all things equal I was happy sitting 2nd, and didn’t want to get passed but I couldn’t really do much as I was drinking from my bottle. Not sure why he had to make it a hard pass. Maybe I’ve been hanging too much with the chill guys of the mountain bike group but come on man. Just say on your left, it’s not like I could have responded and blocked you, and I’d rather not be crashed out by someone else in a mountain bike race, save it for the road bro.
I couldn’t be salty for long because just after that my race completely changed. I hit a rock somewhere on the riverbed (road) and boom…instantly flat. At that point I remembered why I was such a rookie, what the heck do I do. Walk it in? I mean the race is over, no this is a national qualifier, top 15 still shouldn’t be a problem, okay decision 1 made. Fortunately I had a tube and CO2. Do I put the tube in? The lead group was rolling, I thought I could hang and I wasn’t sure how far back 5th was. I didn’t want to lose any more time. It was already unlikely I could catch the leader but maybe 1 or 2 of the guys would come back. Then I looked at my rear wheel, which was completely covered in mud and I knew I didn’t want to take out the thru axle. While this might seem to go through my head instantaneously, that would be if I weren’t a rookie. I probably sat there looking at my bike for a minute or 2 weighing what to do, should I just walk it in? Finally after looking for any huge cashes I just took the CO2 and gave it a go to see if Stan’s would save the day and keep me close. Wrong. No seal, okay now how am I going to change this tire without ruining my thru axle? About that time the guy now in 4th place rolled by, maybe 4-5 minutes back, should have just changed the tube immediately and I still would have been top 5. Oh well, now this rear wheel had to get cleaned. Fortunately there was a creek (a real one) that I could dunk my bike into and clean off the rear wheel. So eventually a tube got put in and I was back on track, of course I was sitting 16th at that point.
I really wasted a lot of time thinking about what to do, probably a 10+ minute tube change. Embarrassing, but a good lesson learned. From there on out the race is uninteresting, I spent lots a time catching and passing people and sliding all over the place. Sometime in the final lap (3/3) my rear brake decided it was give or take done, making the muck even more entertaining. Fortunately I was able to get by enough people/have enough people drop that I ended up in 5th. Can’t be upset with the place but I would have liked to have seen how I would have done against the leaders. I’m still learning where I am as a mountain biker. I’ll just have to find out another day. Not much I could do, all part of the game.
I really wasted a lot of time thinking about what to do, probably a 10+ minute tube change. Embarrassing, but a good lesson learned. From there on out the race is uninteresting, I spent lots a time catching and passing people and sliding all over the place. Sometime in the final lap (3/3) my rear brake decided it was give or take done, making the muck even more entertaining. Fortunately I was able to get by enough people/have enough people drop that I ended up in 5th. Can’t be upset with the place but I would have liked to have seen how I would have done against the leaders. I’m still learning where I am as a mountain biker. I’ll just have to find out another day. Not much I could do, all part of the game.
All in all it was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. Great people, good racing, and a great time. So for all the people that I hung out with, thanks for making the weekend awesome. I really enjoyed the racing and am excited for more. For the near future though it’s back to the road. I am working on getting my A (3) upgrade and a hopeful bid at collegiate nationals. Next up is either Philly Flier this weekend or ASU the weekend after that.
Keep those pedals spinning,
B.Slow
Keep those pedals spinning,
B.Slow