Beaverdam and New Light Challenge Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 36 psi front / 38 psi rear (typical trail for me)
Course condition: Decent

This is how I spent my day prior to the race.  8 cubic yards of mulch spread in the flower beds, including making a new flower bed.  I also dug about 10 feet worth of border rock from the backyard (actually all the border rock is from the backyard, but I didn't do it in one day).  I forgot to take a picture of my bike either before or after the race.  I know someone took my picture at three different places along the course, but I haven't seen those to steal one.

This time around I lined up a little more towards the front to try to get into the woods in a better position.  Upon seeing this, Jeff "Bionic Man" D. questioned why his Double Dare partner wasn't lined up at the front.  I resisted the temptation to scoot up a little and get in the midst of company of which I don't belong.

I hit the trail with the mindset of hammering for the first 5 miles and then resting on the road. Immediately I realized that Kelly wasn't kidding when he said that Beaverdam was rougher on the rigid fork. Still I held on to the acceptable pace before finally getting jammed up behind two geared riders that downshifted too much.  I managed to run up the trail and not let the 10 or so people that also got jammed up to not pass me.  Soon after I found an acceptable place to let the 5 people that I was slowing down to get by me, but not before I got by the 2 geared guys.  The trail was rattling my fillings out and I was holding on with a death grip.  Both hands had gone numb.  I rang my bell once instead of braking and apologized to the guy in front of me for not knowing what I was doing.

I hit the road portion and spun as fast as my tired legs could go.  There was a guy a couple hundred yards in front of me turning 32x20 and I wasn't making up any ground.  I began to question my pre-race day activities.  I began to wonder if my nutrition plan of running bottles for a 4 hour race was a good idea.  A paceline blew past me at 20+ mph, with Steve (race director) calling out to try to hold on if I could.  I think I heard someone else snicker.  I resigned that this would just be a ride and not a race.

I entered New Light and saw Vanessa (Kelly's wife) who asked how I was doing.  "Horrible," was all I got out.  Shortly after that I think my body starting realizing that we were an hour or so into a race and it started to act like it.  I picked off all those guys that passed me in the paceline.  I also got a song stuck in my head.

I don't know where this stuff comes from.

Thankfully that song got replaced by another, but since I don't know the words, it was only a section.

I don't think this was any better.

Either I held a better pace on the way back, or everyone else got slower.  Only three people picked me off on the road and one was Steve right before we turned into the Beaverdam entrance. Steve made the mistake of stopping at the drop before entering the South Loop.  With half a bottle of electrolyte left, I knew that I could skip the bottle I left at the drop and make up some more time on the loop.

Or half of the loop.

When I hit the wall, I hit it hard.  After I stopped crying, I ate the ProBar and Honey Stinger I had, hoping for miraculous instantaneous energy.  It didn't work.

I pushed in several sections that I shouldn't need to push the bike.  I did however, clean the rock garden.  I think it was pride.  Tears of joy streamed down my face when I saw the exit of the South Loop and my full water bottle.  I chugged the whole thing on the way to the finish line.

My goal for the race was 3:45.  I did a 3:50.  15 minutes behind second place SS, and missing the podium by 8 minutes.  At least the pizza was hot when I finished.  Not the case for the Storm Endurance...

I also found out that Strava doesn't record the race if you never push start.  I guess the smartphone isn't so smart after all.

Bushwhack Race Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 38 psi front / 40 psi rear
Course condition: Pristine (Note post race bike condition)

For my second race of the season, I decided that I'd treat it purely as a conditioning test ride (especially considering I was coming off a week of working in NYC and came home to a sick wife and kid).  I need to see what it's going to be like to pedal a SS for long periods of time.  For this reason I also left the 34x20 gearing alone assuming I'd need to pedal this gear on some of the long races this summer.  I came to regret this...again.  I did run a slightly higher pressure than normal to roll a little better through Umstead.

Learning my lesson the previous week, I spun my legs quickly trying to get into the woods a little sooner to avoid having to pass as many people.  I tried to balance this and avoid blowing up at the beginning of the race. I dropped into my groove and worked steadily through the trail, picking off people at my leisure.  I caught up to Nate, who I have always regarded as a better rider than me (though not THAT much better, but better nonetheless). I was feeling pretty good about myself until I realized that Nate was jammed up behind about 10 riders.  I announced that I was going to take the whole group and asked if he wanted to go too.  It probably took us a mile to get by everyone, including Mr Appalachian State jersey guy that was leading the whole thing and apparently couldn't hear me asking to pass.  (Apparently the 3 or 4 people behind him had decided not to pass either, which is why we were all jammed up in the first place.)

Once we cleared the group, Nate settled in behind me and we spun through the rest of Crabtree without incident or the need to pass anyone.  We hit the road to Umstead and for some reason Nate pulled away from me with ease, even though we were both on singlespeeds.  I never saw him again.

Actually, no.  I did see him again, at the very end.

Umstead started out okay, but about halfway through I couldn't keep my speed up on the climbs and had to get out of the saddle and rock the bike up the hill.  Mr Appalachian State jersey guy passed me.  Then a girl passed me.  Then I got pissed.  I knew I'd eventually catch App State guy on the trail, but the girl looked strong and I didn't want my friends to see me come in laboring to keep up with the girl that looked like she was just out for a cruise.  I struggled to keep my speed up in Umstead and watched both of them turn into tiny dots up ahead.

I finally hit the singletrack. Just like the previous week I started picking off people that passed me on the road.  I started reeling in the girl.  I was stronger on the steeper/tighter trail (if you can call any part of Crabtree that), but she was still cruising pretty good on the smoother flat sections.  Then she stopped and took a drink of water.  I don't know why.  Maybe she heard me panting behind her.  Oh well.  I kept my speed up and continued working the trail and rolled up on Mr App State. Hah! At that point all I cared about was getting out of the trail with enough of a lead on him so that he wouldn't catch me on the last bit of road.

I hit the asphalt and spun my legs as fast as they would go.  About halfway through the asphalt section, Nate drove by me with his bike loaded up on his car.  He looked well rested as if he had finished the race some time ago.  I waived.

I did the course in 2:51.  James will probably point out that he did it in 2:29.  I did hold off both Mr App State and the girl.  I also didn't unclip for the entire duration of the ride, even when I started crying on some of the Umstead hills.

Storm Endurance Race Report

Full rigid, 34x20
Wolverine 2.2s, 40 psi front / 45 psi rear
Course condition: see photo

For my first race of the season, I decided that I'd treat it purely as a conditioning test ride.  I need to see what it's going to be like to pedal a SS for long periods of time.  For this reason I also left the 34x20 gearing alone assuming I'd need to pedal this gear on some of the long races this summer.  I came to regret this.  The only thing I did do differently is run a higher pressure than normal to roll a little better on the road.

The previous evening's adventure at the bar was a mistake and I wasn't feeling in tip top shape.  I decided to take it easy on the start.  I came to regret this too as I'm quickly learning that I ride the singlespeed faster than the geared bike on the trail.  I managed to pick off a few people on the trail and maintained traction on most of the trail in spite of conditions.

I hit the road feeling fresh and was spinning a ridiculous cadence.  I settled into a more realistic pace and held my own on the slush and ice covered gravel roads.  Once I hit asphalt nothing really changed for me.  For all the other riders on their fancy geared bikes, they quickly upshifted and passed me with ease.  This was pretty frustrating for me knowing that I was going to have to pass them again on the sloppy singletrack while they had the benefit of a leisurely pass on the road.

Near the end of the road portion I was starting to pick off the people that went out too fast, regardless of asphalt or gravel.  One guy was so nice.  As soon as I passed him, he offered a pull and let me draft behind his fancy gears for a little ways.  Around this time I ran out of water.  I knew I had about 45 minutes of trail coming up and that I could stop at the truck and refill, but screw it.

I hit the mudfest out of the saddle and picked off 5 or 6 people, most of whom I recognized as passing me out on the road.  I counted 2 dabs and 2 dismounts on the second loop of the singletrack.  Not bad considering trail conditions.

I came in as the 5th Clydesdale (3:55) but only 11 minutes behind the 1st Clyde.  I didn't realize we were so packed together.  I went home, washed my bike, lubed the chain, got 4 hours of sleep and then jumped on a flight to NYC.