1speed
Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
Kind of on the spur of the moment, I decided to line up for the first XC race of the MASS series on Sunday in Fair Hill. I say "spur of the moment" because, even though a friend of mine was pestering me to do it late last week, I just left it up to fate and didn't set my alarm for Sunday. I figured if I was awake in time to head down, I'd do it. If not, I'd find another ride for the day. To be honest. i kind of figured that with rain forecast for Saturday night, it wasn't going to happen anyway, but it seems that the weather reports could not have been further from reality for yesterday in this region: instead of overcast all day and in the low 60's after rain Saturday night, we were bone dry with temps in the upper 70's and sunny by 10:00 yesterday.
Even after heroically crawling out of bed at 6:00, I still almost didn't make it when I went to pack up my gear and realized that the one adjustment I intended to make to my Niner - tighten the chain a bit - was (1) more necessary than when I half-assed looked at it on Saturday and (2) "problematic" in the way that made me want to tear my remaining hairs out of my head. Quick explanation: this is really the first time I've had to do any maintenance on this bike other than clean it after it's near death experience a week ago at LBD. It seems that the new Bio-II eccentric is even harder to access with a torque wrench than the previous version (or else the crank arm is now on steroids and much larger than the one on my Sir9.) The problem is that I have always been dedicated to the point of fanaticism about adhering to torque specs. I have never once in my time with an EBB ever tightened the bolts without a torque wrench set to 12Nm. This caused issues and a lot of very careful fitting on my Sir9. But on the RDO, that damn new EBB is just too recessed to access at all:
It may not look it, but that right bolt is simply impossible to reach with any of my torque wrenches - they go in at an angle and are instantly at risk for stripping the bolt.
So, now that I was awake and angry, I figured the best thing to do was say "fuck it" and go drive down to the race anyway ... with a loose chain and a bad attitude. Recipe for a win.
But at the venue, Scott from Evolution told me that I should talk to the folks in the Niner tent. That seemed like a good idea, so I headed over. At first, I was a little concerned when I spoke to their wrench and his first question was "what kind of BB is that?" Umm, it's YOUR Bio-II ... But then he actually gave me some knowledge that threw my entire EBB adjustment woes of the past five years into the pooper: turns out (and I'm sure a lot of folks here already knew this but in my defense I am dumb and slow) that the stated "12Nm" of torque you should use is actually just the minimum to keep the whole thing form moving. You can actually crank that sucker up over 15 before it puts any pressure on any of the housing or anything. After telling me this, he then proceeds to use a long arm hex wrench and fixes it right up for me. So ... yeah ... lesson learned. I think my ritual of flogging myself with stress as I grunt and sweat to fit my torque wrench into a space that it isn't meant to go to avoid stripping bolts may now be a thing of the past. I feel light and free.
So with that I'm ready to roll. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get throttled, but I'm happy to be on the line just the same. The truth is, I decided to do this race because I wanted to test my back out. Earlier this week, I had my first round of shots to correct an issues I've been having for a while but just finally had diagnosed two weeks ago: after finally getting an MRI I learned that I had two herniated discs. The doctor recommended I try the shots before we think about anything more invasive, so last Wednesday I was in the surgicenter for the first of three rounds. After the shot, I felt really good, but was forbidden from riding or exercising until Saturday. And Saturday I headed out and knocked out a 42 mile ride in Philly and felt surprisingly good. So I figured I'd push it a bit at a brutal race pace I'm not used to and see if it holds up. I figured if I'm good for this, then after the next two rounds I may actually be in a pretty good place. And if it didn't work out, I'd just pull the plug. But it was worth the shot.
One more thing I liked about this race: Cat 1's go first! That's such a great thing: anytime you can race the early race, it's all good. Who wants to sit around until 1:00? Blech ... Anyway, on the start line, my legs were already tired from the previous day's ride after a week off, but I can't remember the last time my legs didn't feel tired so whatever.
The SS category is the third group to go off, and I look around and see that pretty much everyone looks like a greyhound near the front. Cool. The race starts and ... goddamn, I forgot how much XC race starts hurt. I can taste blood in my mouth and my breathing sounds like something people drove around in during the Depression in a matter of seconds. I'm already flop sweating and dizzy by the time we cross the bridge not a half mile into the race. Lovely.
By the time we hit the first little climb on the other side, I am (to put it euphemistically) "spit off the back". But then my brain somehow joins the party and I tell myself to ease back a bit since nothing is working anyway. I proceed to sit probably in DFL for the first lap and somehow magically start to come around a bit going into lap 2. To be honest, I actually wasn't going as slow as I felt I was - I could still see most of the other racers. I was just hurting a lot. And my back wasn't too happy with the abrupt change from "doing nothing" to "doing everything". I decided to monitor that a bit more and if it didn't come around ont he second lap, I'd pull the plug.
But my second lap worked out. I made about 5 or 6 passes and things really clicked when my friend Sean came up behind me and I was able to pace off him for a bit. He was racing the 40-49 who started behind us, and the thing I've always liked about riding with Sean is that he has crazy power when he wants to go. He is a big dude and can just crank out a crazy pace. Sometimes it doesn't work for him, but when it does he's a tough guy to sit on. Ultimately, I was able to recover enough from riding with him to make a hard push and rode away but I kind of figured I'd see him again later once he decided to fly again (it didn't happen - he had an issue with his derailleur that forced him to slow down a bit in his third lap.)
I was feeling back in control by the time I came up the long road climb to the start finish for my third lap and went into it kind of guessing I was somewhere in the middle of the pack and knew that was probably about all I was going to get for the day _ the top guys were in the wind and unless I actually caught sight of someone ahead I knew it would be tough to make myself push in this last lap. I had a slight twinge in my right quad that made me ride the climbs conservatively, but I was actually really happy to come across the line at the end without any serious back pain.
So, I guess it was kind of "mission accomplished" on most fronts: I was reminded how nuts a Cat-1 XC race can be, I finished stronger than I started, and my back held up without too much discomfort.
Afterward, I hung out for a bit with a few friends and watched the Cat-2 race (I was kind of surprised at how serious the Cat-2 class seems to have become over the past few years -- they were doing bottle hand-ups and shouting splits and crap like that, and some of those folks were really fast.) Then I stuck around to see @Mountain Bike Mike get his podium, and chat with a few other folks I haven't seen in a while and then it was time to go home. All in all a pretty great day. Not sure if I want to do too many XC races in general because ... ouch ... but I'm definitely glad I lined up. After I got home, I spent the rest of the day fulfilling my contractual obligation to serve as a cat lounge, because Hobo Cat didn't care about my tired legs. (And yes, he is lying on his back here and if I don't scratch his stomach, he mad-dogs me and asks "Is Hobo Cat gonna have to smack a bitch?")
Even after heroically crawling out of bed at 6:00, I still almost didn't make it when I went to pack up my gear and realized that the one adjustment I intended to make to my Niner - tighten the chain a bit - was (1) more necessary than when I half-assed looked at it on Saturday and (2) "problematic" in the way that made me want to tear my remaining hairs out of my head. Quick explanation: this is really the first time I've had to do any maintenance on this bike other than clean it after it's near death experience a week ago at LBD. It seems that the new Bio-II eccentric is even harder to access with a torque wrench than the previous version (or else the crank arm is now on steroids and much larger than the one on my Sir9.) The problem is that I have always been dedicated to the point of fanaticism about adhering to torque specs. I have never once in my time with an EBB ever tightened the bolts without a torque wrench set to 12Nm. This caused issues and a lot of very careful fitting on my Sir9. But on the RDO, that damn new EBB is just too recessed to access at all:
It may not look it, but that right bolt is simply impossible to reach with any of my torque wrenches - they go in at an angle and are instantly at risk for stripping the bolt.
So, now that I was awake and angry, I figured the best thing to do was say "fuck it" and go drive down to the race anyway ... with a loose chain and a bad attitude. Recipe for a win.
But at the venue, Scott from Evolution told me that I should talk to the folks in the Niner tent. That seemed like a good idea, so I headed over. At first, I was a little concerned when I spoke to their wrench and his first question was "what kind of BB is that?" Umm, it's YOUR Bio-II ... But then he actually gave me some knowledge that threw my entire EBB adjustment woes of the past five years into the pooper: turns out (and I'm sure a lot of folks here already knew this but in my defense I am dumb and slow) that the stated "12Nm" of torque you should use is actually just the minimum to keep the whole thing form moving. You can actually crank that sucker up over 15 before it puts any pressure on any of the housing or anything. After telling me this, he then proceeds to use a long arm hex wrench and fixes it right up for me. So ... yeah ... lesson learned. I think my ritual of flogging myself with stress as I grunt and sweat to fit my torque wrench into a space that it isn't meant to go to avoid stripping bolts may now be a thing of the past. I feel light and free.
So with that I'm ready to roll. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get throttled, but I'm happy to be on the line just the same. The truth is, I decided to do this race because I wanted to test my back out. Earlier this week, I had my first round of shots to correct an issues I've been having for a while but just finally had diagnosed two weeks ago: after finally getting an MRI I learned that I had two herniated discs. The doctor recommended I try the shots before we think about anything more invasive, so last Wednesday I was in the surgicenter for the first of three rounds. After the shot, I felt really good, but was forbidden from riding or exercising until Saturday. And Saturday I headed out and knocked out a 42 mile ride in Philly and felt surprisingly good. So I figured I'd push it a bit at a brutal race pace I'm not used to and see if it holds up. I figured if I'm good for this, then after the next two rounds I may actually be in a pretty good place. And if it didn't work out, I'd just pull the plug. But it was worth the shot.
One more thing I liked about this race: Cat 1's go first! That's such a great thing: anytime you can race the early race, it's all good. Who wants to sit around until 1:00? Blech ... Anyway, on the start line, my legs were already tired from the previous day's ride after a week off, but I can't remember the last time my legs didn't feel tired so whatever.
The SS category is the third group to go off, and I look around and see that pretty much everyone looks like a greyhound near the front. Cool. The race starts and ... goddamn, I forgot how much XC race starts hurt. I can taste blood in my mouth and my breathing sounds like something people drove around in during the Depression in a matter of seconds. I'm already flop sweating and dizzy by the time we cross the bridge not a half mile into the race. Lovely.
By the time we hit the first little climb on the other side, I am (to put it euphemistically) "spit off the back". But then my brain somehow joins the party and I tell myself to ease back a bit since nothing is working anyway. I proceed to sit probably in DFL for the first lap and somehow magically start to come around a bit going into lap 2. To be honest, I actually wasn't going as slow as I felt I was - I could still see most of the other racers. I was just hurting a lot. And my back wasn't too happy with the abrupt change from "doing nothing" to "doing everything". I decided to monitor that a bit more and if it didn't come around ont he second lap, I'd pull the plug.
But my second lap worked out. I made about 5 or 6 passes and things really clicked when my friend Sean came up behind me and I was able to pace off him for a bit. He was racing the 40-49 who started behind us, and the thing I've always liked about riding with Sean is that he has crazy power when he wants to go. He is a big dude and can just crank out a crazy pace. Sometimes it doesn't work for him, but when it does he's a tough guy to sit on. Ultimately, I was able to recover enough from riding with him to make a hard push and rode away but I kind of figured I'd see him again later once he decided to fly again (it didn't happen - he had an issue with his derailleur that forced him to slow down a bit in his third lap.)
I was feeling back in control by the time I came up the long road climb to the start finish for my third lap and went into it kind of guessing I was somewhere in the middle of the pack and knew that was probably about all I was going to get for the day _ the top guys were in the wind and unless I actually caught sight of someone ahead I knew it would be tough to make myself push in this last lap. I had a slight twinge in my right quad that made me ride the climbs conservatively, but I was actually really happy to come across the line at the end without any serious back pain.
So, I guess it was kind of "mission accomplished" on most fronts: I was reminded how nuts a Cat-1 XC race can be, I finished stronger than I started, and my back held up without too much discomfort.
Afterward, I hung out for a bit with a few friends and watched the Cat-2 race (I was kind of surprised at how serious the Cat-2 class seems to have become over the past few years -- they were doing bottle hand-ups and shouting splits and crap like that, and some of those folks were really fast.) Then I stuck around to see @Mountain Bike Mike get his podium, and chat with a few other folks I haven't seen in a while and then it was time to go home. All in all a pretty great day. Not sure if I want to do too many XC races in general because ... ouch ... but I'm definitely glad I lined up. After I got home, I spent the rest of the day fulfilling my contractual obligation to serve as a cat lounge, because Hobo Cat didn't care about my tired legs. (And yes, he is lying on his back here and if I don't scratch his stomach, he mad-dogs me and asks "Is Hobo Cat gonna have to smack a bitch?")
