Monday, April 16, 2012

Kings Valley Road Race: What better way to spend a sunny day

First  I must say Kings Valley Road Race is a super fun rollie course with an up hill finish and im so glad my roomate (ryan garner )talked me into going. I have been on a racing hiatis for a while and had been dreading my return to racing, but also could not wait to get back at it. I had originally planned to mountainbike on Saturday but when I was offered a ride to the race ,the gears in my head started turning. My nerves went crazy at this point and I began to question everything about myself ,what a wreck. Despite all the fear I knew inside the time had come to get out and get back at it. I had not done a proper road race in 3 and half years ,and last year only raced a few times between cross and crits.

I got maybe an hour of sleep and jumped out of bed excited and scared all at the same time. I knew my lack of sleep may not help the matter but I really had no choice other than to back out, but my pride wasnt going to allow that, so off we went. So I get to the race ,register ,change and warm up and all seems well other than my nerves, and I begin to metally prepare myself for what may be the longest tt of my life..lol.. The course was a three lap 56 mile rolling course. My plan was to try not to get dropped or crash, work as little as possible and use the race astraining for later races..So the race began .........I felt surprisingly comfortable and settled in.

I was in the rearend of the pack not the best place to be ,the slinky effect in a 4/5 race is very dangerous and the surging makes it hard for the the people in the back to stay in contact with the group. About 4 miles in a rider in the front swerved to miss a pothole and I had my first near crash having to cross the centerline to avoid crashing..whew that was close...I recomposed and settled  back  in ...about 18 miles in there  was a right hand turn with corner marshalls waiving us on but appearantly not everyone was paying attention and only about half of the group actually turned right. The guy to my right also did not see this and we nearly collided and I was forced not to make the turn. We blew the turn, turned  around and tried to get back into contact and I did but it was short lived.

 The effort to get back on took too much out me and by the end of the first lap, at the top of the climb I was off the back on a reverse breakaway...I watched my race slip away and had no answer...God knows I gave all I had to get back into the group. This is where my race truly began...I'm guessing 10 or so of us got dropped in the cornering malay and we were strung out pretty good...The thought of quiting and riding back to car started crossing my mind and I felt mentally broken but decided to use it as fuel to get back into the race. I thought even if I finish DFL its better than DNF and if I can catch a couple guys I may not even DFL.

 I reached for my big boy pants and went for it. The second lap was a tt for me as I rode most of it alone pushing  myself as hard as possible. I caught and passed two guys, this helped me regain confidence and hope. When I reached the corner that had set my fate I noticed 4 guys in front of me. They were close now if I could just catch them we could work together and who knows just maybe....maybe my race wasn't over.... I pushed hard, real hard. I had to catch these guys... and I did..... but once again I used a ton of gas to get there. I got on a wheel and announced to the guys if they break and reset I would help to pull us back into the fold. They seemed to agree and the paceline began.

The entire third lap we worked super hard to get back to the group. They became my teamates and we got going quite fast and consistent. I knew we had a chance, we hit the last hill and could see the back end of the group and saw some of the riders that couldnt hang on to the sprint at the front end. I reached one more time in hopes of catching as many of them as I could. I tried to get out of the saddle and felt a little crampy so I sat back down and tried to go hard from my seat...I caught 5 or 6 guys and ended up 43 out of 56. Usually I would be upset by this as a result but all things considered I felt damn good about it.......This was a perfect way to get back into racing. I plan to do KVRR next year and hope to continue racing hard this year, so next time I get a better result.

Next race for me will be the Eugene Roubaix, I cant wait!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Piece of Cake

The Piece of Cake road race had all the right ingredients for a spring road race.  When signing up for the category 4/5 it had just reached capacity, so I was bumped to the more seasoned Masters 4/5 race.  This was interesting.  I had heard that the Masters ride a little more organized and thus a little faster than the Senior 4/5.  I was up for the challenge.
At 1:40 as the race started I felt great.  The sun was out, the temperature was just right, 60 degrees with a slight breeze. The race coarse begins with a good amount of gravel road.  Sounds like a lot of fun...unless you get a flat tire in the first hundred yards.  Flat tires usually don't bother me but I was the third rider to have a flat   and by the time I swapped my wheel out the group was out of sight.  I rode a hard pace with thought that I would never see the group again.
My game plan had switched from catching the group to trying to catch the other riders that sustained a flat.  There was one rider that I could see about  a quarter mile ahead of me.  I tried to catch him but I got the impression that he believed he could catch the group that was out of sight.
After the first lap I was sill riding solo.  Plan C was to enjoy the beautiful day and try not to get caught by the race that started after me.  Well I got caught but finished the race nonetheless.  I was able to catch up to a couple of riders in the last mile.
The Piece of Cake was a fun race that I will do next year.  My game plan for next year, puncture resistant tires.

Okon Udosenata

Tuesday, April 10, 2012


Mudslinger: Not just a clever name. And May 1st (April Fools Day), a coincidence... I think not.

With 11 inches of rain in March, nearly 4 inches in the week leading up to the event, and reports of 30-40 (depending on the source) fallen trees getting cleared from the course I knew other racers and I were in for a battle.

Like this but with more mud
This being only my 2nd XC race and not really knowing how to prepare I just figured I’d wear clothing that would allow me to stay as dry as possible and I didn’t worry too much about overheating because I knew I was going to be out there for a while. I’m a relatively strong descender so the muddy slick conditions didn’t have me worried, but the reported long gravel road climbs had my quads and lungs ready to retreat. I put on my Raingear, taped a few gels to my top tube,  ate a banana, and got to the riders meeting just as Mike Ripley (race promoter) began to warn us of the trail conditions: standing water, slimy ruts, occasional creek crossing (ferry optional). Everyone followed his truck down a mile or so of gravel road to the race start and got roughly staged into our categories and prepared for the start.

Im in there somewhere


The course was pretty much exactly like it had been described to me…. Long gravel road climb, slimy rutted descent, another gravel road climb, long slimy descent, and REPEAT. In the first climb I just hung on the rear wheel of someone that would challenge me to climb at my threshold.
My climbing Competition
I was definitely passed by more people than I passed but I was close to the front of a pack of people that I knew I didn’t want in front of me when the trail turned downhill so I turned myself inside out to get/stay ahead of them. When we entered the first DH section there were two people just ahead of me…. One fell and the other skid (both wheels locked up) into her and got hung up. I managed to get around them clean with an alternate “bushwacker” line. I managed to pass a couple others and then caught up to the next pack over the 1+ mile descent and was feeling good. I was mostly dry, my muscles were warmed up, I had recovered from the first climb, and I was now ready for the next one. Within seconds of these thoughts going through my head I hit what I thought was a shallow puddle but was more like an axle deep bog. I was lucky to not shoot over the bars but was unlucky enough to have water shoot up my Endura capris and into my unzipped jacket and completely soak me to the bone.
What I felt like After said Creek Crossing
Before Creek Crossing
Over the next 2.5 miles of climbing I was mentally beat and had a hard time staying focused on the task at hand. By the top I had warmed the water and mud that was now attached to me to body temperature and started to feel better but everyone I had passed on the DH had passed me back as well as a couple others. Just as I crested the top of the climb I had remembered that I was racing and when I dropped into the next singletrack section I was focused again. There were 3-4 people walking a steep mud rut and they were polite enough to clear the way when they heard me approach. The next few miles were a blur of two-wheel drifting, hopping water bars, avoiding piles of crashed out people, an occasional cameraman/woman, and FUN... holy crap it was fun. All I could think was “I GET to do this part again”!?
Bottom of Panama Canal 1st Lap... STOKED to be PUMPED!
At the bottom of this section I was stoked. I thanked the volunteers at the trail junction where CAT 3 turned to go to the finish and I pedaled on toward the aid station which was the hardest climb of the day in my opinion. From what I remember it was three or four “stairs” of steep gravel road that seemed endless. I completely emptied my tank here. It may have been a bad strategy in hindsight, but I didn’t want to walk and plenty of people were. To be honest, everything after that hill was pretty much a blur. My memory from everything after it is similar to a concussion or a long hard night of drinking......foggy at best. At one point I had to push about 100yds of a muddy singletrack climb, then there was more gravel road, and even the second lap on Panama Canal was bad. I still passed a couple people, but I descended nearly 2 min slower the second time through. I was broken, shelled, cracked, bonked (any other stereotypical word for half dead).

I was kinda like this guy but my helmet isn' as cool

 I popped out onto the gravel road (ok, slowly rolled) and made the left turn toward the finish. I made it about 200yds and while still pedaling, I threw up. I was so exhausted that I laughed out loud to myself about it. I had left it all out on the trail…. literally. Awesome I think to myself as I see the, “1 mile to finish” sign. I had nobody close to me (I thought) so I pedaled at a high cadence and just tried to keep my momentum going. This involved me calling myself derogatory names out loud for motivation and eventually just panting like a farm animal giving birth. I was alone so it wasn’t embarrassing right…. Wrong! What I thought was a car in the distance was actually a guy about 5ft behind me.  I’m sure he’s got a good story about passing a delusional shell of a human being cussing to himself less than a mile from the finish. To put a cherry on top of this whole experience when he passed me I went to shift up a gear or two and try to stay with him but my bike wouldn’t shift properly and my cranks locked up. I back pedaled to free it, looked down and noticed that a side plate on my chain had broken and my chain was only being held together by one side plate. “OH NO!” I thought, not that I could’ve caught him or even kept up with him. At this point I wasn’t worried about that, I was worried that my chain would break and I’d have to run the last half mile or so of uphill. Since I wasn’t sure if that was possible I babied it until I could hear the familiar ring of my cowbell where Jen and some of the team were cheering me into the finish.
While waiting to hose my bike off with a fire truck (no joke) I asked Jen to go get me some food from the car and luckily she could understand my post-race grunt language and 1000yd stare so I was magically rewarded with a bagel and banana within seconds. Over the next hours or so I got cleaned up, loaded my bike, ate some carbs, and checked the results posted outside the gym……. WHAT?!..... 2:45:13 12 of 12 DFL in Cat2 29-34. It was a BUMMER and the first time I’d gotten last in anything I’ve done (except maybe 7th grade wrestling). I accepted my defeat and over that night I reflected on the event. I started racing cross country and joined the Tensegrity PT Race Team this year to both challenge myself and meet new friends that shared the passion of cycling and fitness. I could’ve signed up for Cat 3 and never risked a last place finish but I wanted to jump in with both feet, go all out with my training, and really see what was possible. The next day while sitting in my cube at work wishing I was out on a recovery ride I decided to check the results again. Turns out I got 12 of 18 not the best result, but not last. STOKED! With that being said, the whole experience was very motivating and I plan on training hard with my new friends and getting better and better results as the season goes on.