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.