Oy oy,
After standing on the sidelines and being annoyed with the HUGE influx of traffic at the local trails on Wednesday nights during the summer, I finally decided to join the fray and race the local mountain bike races on Wednesday nights at Wakefield park.
Potomac Velo puts on a pretty impressive race series during the summer. While the course is fairly short and somewhat limited in the number of people that it can support for a race, the trails are actually perfect for racing. Over the last 18 months, a TON of volunteer work has been done to completely revamp the trails at Wakefield. The end result is a race course that has many fewer areas that degrade badly under heavy use or after a rain. That's a good thing. We had 2 inches of rain on Monday night. With the exception of the mud holes that stay around most of the summer, the course was in perfect shape. Truly a testament to Rich and Larry (who designed the course), the volunteers who built it, and the Potomac Velo folks that prepped the course for the race.
I raced in Single Speed class. It was an interesting class in which to race. Since there is no deliniation for age, skill or weight of racers, it puts many different speeds of racers in one class. The guys who win the SS class could easily be competitive in the Expert class. The folks at the back of the pack (like me) would be middle of the pack finishers in Sport or even beginner class. This is further complicated by the fact that the 35+ Vets class (a very fast and competitive group) starts 60 seconds after the SS class and the 45+ Masters start 60 seconds behind them.
The race went very smoothly. There is enough of a run out that people got spread out a little before the first bottleneck. I think we all were a little slowed on the first downhill into a creek bed. Even that spread out once we hit the woods again.
Passing zones are evenly spaced out around the course. For those in other classes, I let them by whenever the trail allowed. There's enough room on some sections of singletrack that allow this. For Single Speeders, I worked to pass only when the trail widened out enough to make it safe and easy.
I did try one move on a section of trail that didn't work out so well. Wakefield has a section of trail where you can split right or left. THIS photo (taken while building the trail) shows it pretty well. The left side of the photo is the smooth downhill that is the right fork of the race course. The knot of roots on the right side of the photo is a fun little chute that almost no-one takes. Since I pretty much just race for fun, I decided to take the chute instead of the smooth bench-cut trail. There is a small chance that it is faster. It ended up being no faster at all. I had to hammer like heck at the bottom of the drop in order to file back into line. That didn't stop me from riding it the second lap though. Third lap I was tired and just took the wimpy way out. :D
The race went pretty much as planned. As usual, the first lap was faster. The starting loop is a tiny bit shorter than the full lap course. My lap times on the other two laps were within seconds of each other. I was exhausted when I started the race after having a rough week at work. I made sure I had a little gas left in the tank for lap 3 and I probably left a little too much for the last lap. I finished with the feeling that I could have gone faster. It was a great learning experience though. It give me room for improvement next week. :D In the end I placed 23 out of 35 in the SS class.
My buddy Tom Mathes (aka Snot Rocket) had been talking trash all week. He's just that kind of guy. He was talking up about how he was going to etch the names of all the people who's asses he kicked in the race into the top tube of his custom IF titanium 29er single speed. If you know Snot Rocket, then you know that he's just partaking of some good natured ribbing. If you know Snot Rocket, I suggest you ask him to list off the names of people that he hammered into submission. I think you might find that they number fewer than three and that they were 2 of the dozen or so kids that were in the 12 and under Super-Junior class. ;)
Tom, you'll have another chance next week to add me to the list of the ass kicked. :D
Sorry for rambling on. That was the first non-endurance race that I've done in more than 15 years. It was damn fun and I can't wait to do it agian.
Pete
1 comment:
Here's Tom's Reply to the race. :D He's a blast to ride with. There is never a dull moment.
It helps to imagine him. He's about 6' and 235 pounds. He's an army vet and is built like a boxer slightly put out to pasture. Once he leans up a little, he'll be kicking ass further up in the pack. I'm going to definitely have to step my game up to keep ahead of him. He was about 5 minutes behind me at the end of the race. I think that time will get less pretty quickly if he stays on schedule.
And with no further delay, I present to you... Snot Rocket:
A bit of Humble Pie...
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After all my blathering I have to confess my first MTB Race Experience was a real eye-opener! I really underestimated just how hard and challenging it all can be and really have come to respect the level of fitness and skill of the folks on this forum. I'm embarassed by my reference of MTB racing to a lycra rich, pansy venue on par w/ competitive cheerleading. The SS class is much harder then I expected and I realize now just how much I have to improve as a person and a racer to be considered a valid SS contendor. I tried as hard as I could yesterday- pegged out in Zone 5, back cramping, right calf cramping- but all I had...just wasn't good enough- I really regret all my trash talking up to this point and would like to apologize to this forum and I guess I'll just quit racing because I didn't make the podium..........NOT : - Ha, ha! If any weenie read that and for a second thought I was sincere- you are definitely on my list (and a pontential knucklehead)- I can smell you already and the hunt is on !
Post popping 600mg of Motrin and rolling into bed Naked- I curled up in the fetal position (had to back was smoked) smiling...a solid benchmark was established, the initial race provides me a "ladder" upon which to climb...a solidly defined rungs of cyclist which will be broken in my eventual ascension to the top...
I really feel sorry for the top finishers- they have little motivation to improve, ideally they won't hesitate as they shove down beers, embrace a soft, golden and luvely twinkie with the creme filling that is so intoxicating (pant, pant)...rest on your laurels baby, cause the clock is ticking- tick, tock, tick tock!
I for sure thought I came in dead last- all I could hear were the crickets on my last lap but it turns out I wasn't last. This was very dissappointing- it would make for a better story to be last today and first next year...sigh! I'm not just talking trash here, just want to sincerely prep folks for the devastating shock of my orange and black mass crushing past them one of these days. I don't want you to quit racing when this occurs- it is quite fun...I will feel terrible if I influenced a weenie do that ...just trying to be considerate here... I'm a very empatheic human being...
I had a great time and really appreciated the hard work folks put into this event. The Rollers turned out great- I swear I looked beautiful ripping those. In fact, I believe, whom I figure was the last guy in the begineer class, riding my tail on the last lap- once we got to the rollers- I quickly dropped him. After the race he came up to me and asked me "are you, you- are you the Master of Flow?" I was a bit humbled and could only mutter "of course I am..."
It was great seeing folks on this forum for real and even more fun racing them- yeah, you couldn't see me, but I was doing my best to see you and as stated we'll balance this detail out in the future. Just hang in there when this happens- I'll buy you a beer to salve the pain...
The focus for the next couple of days is rack, lots of mortin, recovery to take on CM#1- folks can relax a bit, I won't be out to crush anything per this venue just survive the 18-miles. I also plan on being there for WAW#2- assuming no injuries- granted this may be survival also- it is going to be a rough 6-days!
BTW, SS class should be truly open- Gals included! I mean that is what SS Class means to me- we have the fatties, the stick boys, the fat, the temporary fat, the slow the fast, old, handicapped, ugly- don't care- ideally in the future the gals and any weenie inbetween who wants to bring it on race day on level playing field will be treated as an equal as long as they are sporting one gear!
I'd also like it if the SS class only had one podium position- 1st Place. In competition, per my perspective (which is normally right) there is first place and first place and first place- second place is just first place loser. This would make it all the more fun to compete in the SS class- you only get accolades for ascending to the top of the pile- if you can't achieve that you can find solace elsewhere- yeah baby, now that will be a race class to compete in and it would be much more fun!
BRAAAAP!
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Snot-Rocket
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